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Species Campaea perlata - Pale Beauty - Hodges#6796
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 Campaeini
Genus Campaea
Species perlata (Pale Beauty - Hodges#6796)
Other Common Names Fringed Looper (larva) Synonyms and other taxonomic changes Campaea perlata – (Guenée, [1858])
First described in 1858 by Achille Guenée as Metrocampa perlataExplanation of Names perlata is probably from post-classical Latin for "pearly" (the original description commented on its similarity to margaritata, whose name is based on the classical Latin word for "pearl" and no doubt means the same thing).
The classical Latin word meaning "carried through" is highly unlikely as the source for this name, although it's the only "perlata" in most Latin dictionaries. Numbers common to abundant Size Wingspan 28-51 mm; female much larger than male. (1)Identification Adult: wings and body pale greenish to grayish-white, often yellowish when faded; forewing antemedial and postmedial lines nearly straight, faint, darker grayish accented with white; postmedial line continues onto hindwing
[description by Charles Covell]
Larva: body with short hair-like fringes along ventral margin; when a larva is apresssed close to a branch, the fringes help break the outline of the body and make the larva nearly invisible Range Alaska across Canada to Nova Scotia; south to central California, Arizona and Colorado; in the eastern U. S. south to North Carolina. (2)Habitat coniferous, mixed, and deciduous forests and shrubby areas; adults are nocturnal and come to light, but in the arctic where summer nights are short or absent, adults fly during the day Season adults fly from May to September in the south; late June to early August in Alberta; July in the arctic Food larvae have been reported to feed on leaves of 65 species of coniferous and deciduous trees and shrubs, including alder, ash, basswood, beech, birch, blueberry, Buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis), cherry, fir, elm, hemlock, maple, oak, pine, poplar, rose, spruce, tamarack, willow [list taken from Handfield, 1999] Life Cycle two generations per year in the south; one generation in the far north; overwinters as a third-instar or fourth-instar larva, likely exposed on bark and branches Print References Powell, J. A. & P. A. Opler, Moths of Western North America, pl. 29.29m; p. 215. (2)
Handfield, Louis. 1999. Les Guides des Papillons du Quebec. Broquet. 662 pp.
Internet References Moth Photographers Group - photos of living and pinned adults.
pinned adult image by G.G. Anweiler, plus common name references, habitat, flight season, description, biology, foodplants, distribution (Strickland Entomological Museum, U. of Alberta)
pinned adult image (Bruce Walsh, Moths of Southeastern Arizona)
presence in Florida; list (John Heppner, Florida State Collection of Arthropods)
presence in Colorado plus location and date [search on genus "Campaea"] (Lepidopterists Society Season Summary, U. of Florida)
presence in California; list (U. of California at Berkeley)
presence in Yukon and Alaska; PDF doc plus foodplants and general distribution (J.D. Lafontaine and D.M. Wood, Butterflies and Moths of the Yukon)
distribution in Canada list of provinces and territories (CBIF)
Works Cited | 2. | Moths of Western North America
Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press. | |
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