Species Leucania subpunctata - White-dotted Wainscot - Hodges#10453.1

10453.1

Leucania latiuscula

part of a species group including L. subpunctata (Hodges 10454.1) and L. senescens (Hodges 10454.2) whose individuals can be distinguished to species level by examination of genitalia but not normally by photos of whole adults

until recently, L. subpunctata and L. senescens were considered synonyms of L. latiuscula

wingspan about 34-35 mm, based on two photos by Jim Vargo at MGP

Adult: forewing dark brownish-gray in male (lighter brown in female), with a diffuse dark line runs from the wing base to the white discal dot; slightly paler strip extends along length of costa but wing shows little overall contrast; a lighter triangular patch near the apex of the wing; PM line composed of either a continuous black zigzag line or a line of separate black dots; hindwing white in male (gray in female), with dark veins and pale fringe

Texas to Florida, north to Maryland and New York in the fall

also represented through the neotropics to northern South America

northern individuals are fall migrants; adults present year-round in Florida, Texas, and the tropics

larvae feed on grasses and sedges

multiple generations per year in Florida, Texas, and the tropics

Leucania insueta forewing has more contrasting and distinct markings

forewings of other Leucania species are either paler or more contrasting or have a larger/longer white discal spot (compare images of several species by Jim Vargo at MPG)

Lafontaine JD, Schmidt BC (2010) Annotated check list of the Noctuoidea (Insecta, Lepidoptera) of North America North of Mexico. (a) * (PDF download)

nearctica.com - species account with photograph of pinned adult and range map.

Moth Photographers Group - species page with photographs of living and pinned adults.

pinned adult images of subpunctata and senescens (Pierre Zagatti, Lepidoptera of the French Antilles)

pinned adult image of L. subpunctata and collection site map (All-Leps)

pinned adult images of 2 species, plus photos of related species by various photographers (Moth Photographers Group)

adult drawing of L. latiuscula by Hampson (?) plus distribution and synonyms (Matthew Barnes, Moths of Jamaica)

larval foodplants; MS Word doc plus synonym, common name reference, distribution, biology (David Wagner et al, Owlet Caterpillars of Eastern North America, U. of Connecticut)

difficulty in distinguishing latiuscula and subpunctata; PDF doc (Hugo Kons, U. of Florida)

presence in Florida of all 3 members of the species group; list (John Heppner, Florida State Collection of Arthropods)

presence in Texas of 2 species; list (James Gillaspy, U. of Texas)

distribution of 2 species list of boundary states (Dalton State College, Georgia)