Species Feltia subterranea - Subterranean Dart - Hodges#10664

10664

Granulate Cutworm (larva)

Tawny Shoulder (adult in Europe)

Feltia subterranea (Fabricius, 1794)

Noctua subterranea Fabricius, 1794

Agrotis subterranea

Phylogenetic sequence # 933504.

Wingspan 32-45 mm.

Larva length to 38 mm.

Adult: forewing yellowish to medium brown with blackish shading heavier in female than in male; black bar extending from orbicular to reniform spot is distinctive feature; large dark patch along costa near apex, and usually a smaller patch part-way along outer margin; hindwing translucent glistening white in male; shaded with gray in female.

Larva: head pale brown; body dark brown to gray with pale longitudinal stripes; skin surface covered with small black conical granules.

Nova Scotia to Florida, west to California, north to South Dakota.

Also occurs in Europe, and through Central and South America, south to Chile.

Moth Photographers Group - large map with some distribution data.

Cultivated land, lawns and gardens.

Adults fly year round in the south; reduced flight season in the north.

Larvae feed on more than 60 plants of economic importance, including alfalfa, bean, beet, cabbage, cauliflower, clover, corn, cotton, eggplant, lettuce, peanut, pea, pepper, potato, sweet potato, tobacco, tomato, turnip, wheat.

Life cycle can be viewed at North Carolina State University

Common to abundant in the south.

Larvae cause damage by cutting off small plants near ground level.

Lafontaine, J.D., 2004. The Moths of America North of Mexico, Fascicle 27.1. The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation. p. 220; pl. J. 40-41.(1)

Powell, J.A. & P.A. Opler, 2009. Moths of Western North America. University of California Press. pl. 57.43-44; p. 312. (2)

Moth Photographers Group (3)

The Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) (4)

Moths of Southeast Arizona (5)

pinned adult image (John Glaser, Maryland)