Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Clickable Guide

Interactive image map to choose major taxa Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

Upcoming Events

National Moth Week was July 19-27, and the Summer 2025 gathering in Louisiana, July 19-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27


Species Phoberia atomaris - Common Oak Moth - Hodges#8591

Representative Images

8591 Common Oak Moth - Phoberia atomaris Moth16 - Phoberia atomaris Brown forest moth with reniform spots, sighted late winter - Phoberia atomaris Unknown Moth - Phoberia atomaris Light moth ? - Phoberia atomaris Common Oak Moth - Phoberia atomaris Noctuidae: Phoberia atomaris - Phoberia atomaris Moth to porch light  - Phoberia atomaris
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 Noctuoidea (Owlet Moths and kin)
Family Erebidae
Subfamily Erebinae
Tribe Melipotini
Genus Phoberia
Species atomaris (Common Oak Moth - Hodges#8591)

Hodges Number

8591

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Phoberia atomaris Hübner, 1818
Lyssia orthosiodes Guenée, 1852
Poaphila ingenua Walker, 1858 (1)
Poaphila porrigens Walker, 1858 (1)

Explanation of Names

Specific epithet from Latin meaning "with minute dots or points." (2)

Size

Forewing length 17-18 mm. (3)

Identification

Larva - first prolegs slightly reduced; striate, finely mottled with brown giving a striped effect. (3)

Range

Eastern half of North America plus "Colorado and California south to Texas." (3)

Food

Larvae feed on a variety of oaks. (3)

Print References

Brou Jr., V.A., Variations of Phoberia atomaris Hübner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Louisiana. (PDF)
Coyle, D.R., J. Pickering, K.A. Dyer, F.R. Lehman, J.E. Mohan & Kamal J.K. Gandhi 2013. Dynamics of an unprecedented outbreak of two native moth species, Cissusa spadix and Phoberia atomaris (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), on oak trees (Quercus spp.) in the Southeastern United States. American Entomologist 59(2): 83-94. (PDF)
Hübner, J., 1818. Zuträge zur Sammlung exotischer Schmetterlinge, Plates vol. 1: 504, f.75.

Works Cited

1.List of the specimens of lepidopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part XIV - Noctuidae.
Francis Walker. 1858. British Museum (Natural History), p.1238-1519.
2.Explanation of terms used in entomology
John Bernardh Smith. 1906. Brooklyn Entomological Society.
3.Moths of Western North America
Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.
4.North American Moth Photographers Group