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Species Drepanulatrix unicalcararia - Spurred Wave - Hodges#6682

Moth #08-125 - Drepanulatrix unicalcararia - female Moth #08-135 - Drepanulatrix unicalcararia - female Moth - Drepanulatrix unicalcararia - male Drepanulatrix unicalcararia - female Arizona Moth - Drepanulatrix unicalcararia - female Drepanulatrix unicalcararia - male geometrid - Drepanulatrix unicalcararia - male Geometridae: Drepanulatrix unicalcaria - Drepanulatrix unicalcararia
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 Geometroidea (Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths)
Family Geometridae (Geometrid Moths)
Subfamily Ennominae
Tribe Caberini
Genus Drepanulatrix
Species unicalcararia (Spurred Wave - Hodges#6682)
Hodges Number
6682
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Drepanulatrix unicalcararia (Guenée, [1858])
Tephrina unicalcararia Guenée, 1857
Numbers
Powell & Opler (2009) reported twelve species of the genus Drepanulatrix in America north of Mexico. (1)
Size
Wingspan 30-34 mm, based on 4 Internet photos
Identification
Adult: forewing variably pale yellowish, brown, or gray with fine speckling and pointed apex; PM line yellow or orangish, slightly wavy, often broken in middle, sometimes bordered distally by black spots near upper and lower ends; AM line slightly irregular, faint or sometimes lacking; small dark discal spot, sometimes faint or lacking; no dotted terminal line; hindwing pale off-white, darker toward outer margin, with tiny dark discal dot (sometimes lacking)

Larva: body light brown with obscure brown markings, presumably cryptic against branches of hostplant
Range
British Columbia and Alberta to California and Arizona
Habitat
open mountain forests; adults are nocturnal and come to light
Season
On the wing from March through October (2)
Food
larvae feed only on leaves of New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus spp.)
Life Cycle
one or possibly two generations per year
See Also
Drepanulatrix secundaria forewing has dotted terminal line and lacks yellow in PM line (compare images of both species at CBIF)
also see other Drepanulatrix species in MPG links below
Internet References
pinned adult image of 3 specimens, showing color and pattern variation (CBIF)
common name reference [Spurred Wave] plus habitat, flight season, description, foodplant, distribution (Strickland Entomological Museum, U. of Alberta)
presence in California; list (U. of California at Berkeley)
distribution in Canada list of provinces (CBIF)
Works Cited
1.Moths of Western North America
Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.
2.A revision of the geometrid moths formerly assigned to Drepanulatrix (Lepidoptera)
Frederick H. Rindge. 1949. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 94(5).
3.North American Moth Photographers Group
4.BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data Systems