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Species Acerra normalis - Hodges#10470

Acerra normalis Acerra normalis Acerra normalis Acerra normalis - male Acerra normalis Noctuidae: Acerra normalis - Acerra normalis Acerra normalis Acerra normalis
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Noctuoidea (Owlet Moths and kin)
Family Noctuidae (Owlet Moths)
Subfamily Noctuinae (Cutworm or Dart Moths)
Tribe Orthosiini
Genus Acerra
Species normalis (Acerra normalis - Hodges#10470)
Hodges Number
10470
Numbers
the only species in this genus in North America (and the world) listed at All-Leps
Size
wingspan about 40 mm, based on photo by Jeff Miller at USGS
Identification
Adult: forewing grayish-brown with large dark brown V-shaped patch in median area surrounding pale yellowish area along costa; dark triangular spot in pale yellowish area does not touch costa; PM line blackish, almost straight in lower half of wing, then curving smoothly toward base before reaching costa; subterminal line faint or absent; outer margin not scalloped; hindwing light brownish-gray with pale brown or yellowish fringe
Range
British Columbia to California
Season
adults fly in early spring
Food
larvae feed on leaves of oceanspray (Holodiscus), bitterbrush (Purshia), willow (Salix), and mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus)
Remarks
described by Grote in 1874; the type specimens were collected in California
See Also
Stretchia muricina is smaller and its forewing has more extensive dark shading, with a contrasting pale subterminal area and a pink or reddish blotch near the costa midway along the wing
Brown Angle Shades (Phlogophora periculosa) flies in late summer and fall, its forewing outer margin is scalloped, and has a thick subterminal line that terminates at a pale apical patch
Sharp Angle Shades (Conservula anodonta) is smaller, occurs only in the east, and flies in July
Internet References
pinned adult image plus description, foodplants, flight season, similar species (Jeff Miller, Macromoths of Northwest Forests and Woodlands, USGS)
pinned adult image and technical description (California Dept. of Food and Agriculture)
classification plus number of world species and locality of type specimens (Brian Pitkin et al, Butterflies and Moths of the World)
presence in California; list (U. of California at Berkeley)
presence in Oregon; list (Oregon State U.)
distribution in Canada British Columbia only (CBIF)