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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Moths » Noctuoidea » Owlet Moths (Noctuidae) » Acronictinae » Dagger Moths (Acronicta) » American Dagger Moth - Hodges#9200 (Acronicta americana)

Species Acronicta americana - American Dagger Moth - Hodges#9200

Classification · Hodges Number · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Season · Food · Remarks · Internet References · Works Cited
Caterpillar. Dagger moth - Acronicta americana American Dagger Moth - Acronicta americana American dagger moth - Acronicta americana Yellow fuzzy caterpillar - Acronicta americana Is this a tussock moth caterpillar? - Acronicta americana Caterpillar - Acronicta americana Distribution? - Acronicta americana A caterpillar - Acronicta americana
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
No Taxon (Moths)
Superfamily Noctuoidea
Family Noctuidae (Owlet Moths)
Subfamily Acronictinae
Genus Acronicta (Dagger Moths)
Species americana (American Dagger Moth - Hodges#9200)
Hodges Number
9200
Numbers
Common throughout the East (1)
Size
Wingspan 50-65 mm (1)
Caterpillar to 50 mm (2 in) (2)
Identification


Caterpillar is densely covered with white or pale yellow hairs (early and middle instars more yellow), with a pair of diverging thin black lashes on A1 and A3 (first and third abdominal segments), a single tuft of black hairs on A8. Head smooth and shiny black. (3)
Range
East of the Rockies (4)
Season
Flies April to September (1)
Caterpillar seen June to October (5)
Food
Larvae feed on leaves of alder, ash, birch, elm, hickory, maple, oak, poplar, walnut, willow (1) and other deciduous trees (4).
Remarks
The largest dagger moth in the East, according to Covell. (1)
Internet References
pinned adult image (CBIF)
adult images (Larry Line, Maryland)
pinned adult image (A.W. Thomas, Canadian Forest Service)
Works Cited
1.Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America
By Charles V. Covell, Jr.
2.Peterson First Guide to Caterpillars of North America
By Amy Bartlett Wright
3.Caterpillars of Eastern North America
By David L. Wagner
4.The Moth Book
By W.J. Holland
5.Caterpillars of Eastern Forests
By David L. Wagner, Valerie Giles, Richard C. Reardon, Michael L. McManus
Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by Hannah Nendick-Mason, Robin McLeod, Ethan Kistler
Last updated 20 August, 2007 - 1:19am

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