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Species Nycteola frigidana - Frigid Owlet - Hodges#8975

Nolidae: Nycteola frigidana - Nycteola frigidana

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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 Nolidae (Nolid Moths)

Subfamily Chloephorinae

Genus Nycteola

Species frigidana (Frigid Owlet - Hodges#8975)

Hodges Number

8975

Other Common Names

Frigid Midget

Willow Leaftier

Pronunciation

NYEK-dee-Oh-lah FRI-ji-DA-nah

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Author: (Walker, 1863)

Size

forewing length 1.1 - 1.3 cm (1)

Identification

Adults - dark-grey patterned forewings and shining dirty-white hindwings. The forewings are a mixture of dark slate grey markings over a pale grey ground. The forewing markings may be quite variable but the antemedian and postmedian lines are usually well marked, sinuous and doubled. The reniform is a gray spot with some rusty brown scaling in the pupil. The hindwing is dirty white, shading to light grey-brown towards the margin (from E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum)

Genitalia:

Larvae - pale green with long, fine hairs (E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum)

Pupa - powdery white and characteristically truncated at one end (E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum)

Range

British Columbia east to Nova Scotia and south to eastern Washington, Colorado, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania (1)

Newfoundland west to Vancouver Island, north to Northwest Territories and south to the Gulf of Mexico (E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum)

Habitat

Open deciduous woodland and shrub (E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum)

Season

adults are on the wing in late summer and fall and again in spring, and apparently overwinter (E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum)

Food

larval host is willow (1), sometimes poplar (E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum)

Life Cycle

The larvae form colonies in leaves tied together in a silk web, although individuals may be found as well. Adults are apparently only poorly attracted to light, and may be much commoner than light trap collections indicate (from E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum)

See Also

The similar Nycteola cinereana can be separated from frigidana by its slightly larger size, pale grey color and the black scaling along the lower base of the forewings. Frigidana is most likely to be overlooked as a "micro-lepidopteran". There are also a number of similar appearing species among the Tortricidae (from E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum)

Internet References

E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum - species page

Works Cited

1.	Moths of Western North America Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.

Contributed by Cotinis on 30 May, 2007 - 2:10pm
Additional contributions by Robert Lord Zimlich, Randy Hardy, Robert H. Biagi
Last updated 10 November, 2023 - 2:06pm

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