Species Petrophila avernalis - Spring Petrophila - Hodges#4781

4781

Petrophila avernalis (Grote, 1878)

Identified by the relatively uniform yellow-brown color of the FWs compared to most other Petrophila's. Postbasal, median, preapical, and subterminal white lines are usually crisp and prominent but not straight; the median white line is zigzag near the costa; the preapical white streak is often bent outward as it nears the costa; at its inner end, the preapical white streak bends sharply towards the wing base and may completely surroud the "tornal wedge" of orange. The postmedian area of the FW is often the darkest part of the wing; there is often a white-black-white dash or streak in the discal area of the postmedian portion of the FW. On the HW (rarely visible), Spring Petrophila is one of only two Petrophila species with a row of 7 small black eyespots instead of 5 to 6 large ones; it shares this character with Long-winged Petrophila (P. longipennis) but that species has very diffuse pale crosslines on the FW.

New Mexico and Arizona to North Dakota.

Despite its common name (derived from the Latin species epithet), there are records of the species from February to September; earlier and later flights are detected at southerly latitudes (TX, NM) and mid-summer records in Colorado.

Moth Photographers Group (1)

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) (2)

Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) (3)