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Species Phigalia strigataria - Small Phigalia - Hodges#6660

Moth - Phigalia strigataria - male Spring Cankerworm Moth - Phigalia strigataria - male No. 69 Phigalia strigataria-6660? - Phigalia strigataria - male Phigalia strigataria? - Phigalia strigataria - male Small Phigalia - Phigalia strigataria Small Phigalia - Hodges#6660 - Phigalia strigataria - male Phigalia strigataria caterpillar eating black walnut tree leaf - Phigalia strigataria
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 Bistonini
Genus Phigalia
Species strigataria (Small Phigalia - Hodges#6660)
Hodges Number
6660
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Phigalia strigataria (Minot) (1)
Anisopteryx strigataria Minot 1869
Numbers
Phigalia has 4 species north of Mexico. (2)
Size
forewing length 14 to 18 mm, females flightless with drastically reduced wings
larva to 3 cm (3)
Range
e. NA - Map (2)
Habitat
woodlands and forests (3)
Season
Dec-June, true winter moth (2)(3)
Food
elm, oak, chestnut, willow, hickory, hazel, sweet gum, etc. (3)
Life Cycle
Larva, pupal (overwintering) shell, adult female, adult male
Remarks
Often confused with Phigalia denticulata; Can be separated by the following:
In denticulata, a very distinct dark “tooth” is located on the M1 vein where it comes off of the discal cell. This is seen as the “3rd tooth” from the costa, evenly spaced along the PM line of denticulata. In strigataria, this marking is either absent (giving the appearance of a gap between two pairs of “teeth”), greatly reduced (only being about a third the length of the larger tooth beside it), even sometimes appearing as simply a diffuse black spot. See following image for visual.
See Also
P. denticulata; Forewing of P.strigataria is paler, with less dark FW scaling than in P. denticulata, and is faintly olivaceous gray in color. The PM and extradiscal lines are more direct and sinuous, and are not as outwardly dentate on the veins as those of P. denticulata
Works Cited
1.A revision of the New World Bistonini, (Lepidoptera, Geometridae).
Frederick H. Rindge. 1975. American Museum of Natural History 156(2):.
2.North American Moth Photographers Group
3.Caterpillars of Eastern North America
David L. Wagner. 2005. Princeton University Press.