Genus Autographa

Autographa Hübner, 1821

Lafontaine & Schmidt (2010) listed 18 species of the genus Autographa in America north of Mexico. (1)

Adults - forewing generally dark-colored, brownish to gray with distinct lines or pattern, sometimes with tints of other colors; stigma usually whitish or silvery with distinctive shape. hindwing often pale basally, with darker shading distally; color transition may be gradual or sharp [see CBIF links to images of species in Internet section below].

Throughout North America.

Some species fly from spring through fall (multiple broods); others have one brood in summer.

Larvae may be specialist feeders on a single type of plant such as dandelion (in A. bimaculata), or generalists on herbaceous plants (in A. precationis), or woody plants (in A. ampla).

One or more generations per year, depending on species and/or latitude.

Several other genera of Plusiinae moths are similar, especially Syngrapha (see thumbnail images of eastern species and western species occurring in Canada).

Eichlin, T.D. & H.B. Cunningham 1978. The Plusiinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) of America north of Mexico, emphasizing genitalic and larval morphology. United States Department of Agriculture Bulletin 1567: 1-122. (2)

Ottolengui, R. 1902. Plusia and allied genera with descriptions of new species. Journal of the New York Entomological Society, 10(2). (3)