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Species Alypiodes bimaculata - Two-spotted Forester - Hodges#9312

Alypiodes geronimo - Alypiodes bimaculata Moth - Alypiodes bimaculata Caterpillar on 4-o-clock - Alypiodes bimaculata Unknown 'Moth' - Alypiodes bimaculata Alypiodes bimaculata larva - Alypiodes bimaculata Alypiodes sp - Alypiodes bimaculata moth - Alypiodes bimaculata Alypiodes bimaculata
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 Noctuidae (Owlet Moths)
Subfamily Agaristinae
Genus Alypiodes
Species bimaculata (Two-spotted Forester - Hodges#9312)
Hodges Number
9312
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Alypiodes bimaculata (Herrich-Schäffer)
Orig. Comb: Agarista bimaculata Herrich-Schäffer, 1853
* phylogenetic sequence #931977
Explanation of Names
bimaculata - Latin for "two-spotted."
Numbers
2 spp. n. of Mex.
Size
Wingspan 1.7-2 cm (1)
Identification
Adult - variable. See description at Nearctica and note additional information under "Distribution".
Charles Melton (News of the Lepidopterists' Society Vol 60 #2) has raised caterpillars of both species and discovered that most online resources have the larvae confused.
A. bimaculata feeds on mirabilis
and A. geronimo feeds on Boerhavia
Range
AZ-TX / Mex. to C. Amer. (1), (2), (3), (4)
Habitat
Look for diurnal adults patrolling ridgetops. (1)
Season
Adults fly June through Septemeber. (3)
Food
Larvae feed on Mirabilis
Adults visit flowers such as sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis). (1)
Remarks
"Can be down right abundant in the Huachuca Mountains of SE Arizona in early August." (Fred Heath, pers. comm. to MAQ, 2006)
See Also
Alypiodes flavilinguis - bimaculata typically has forewing with a longer tapered white basal spot, shorter and more oval in flavilinguis, and prominent white markings on the apex of the tegula, lacking in flavilinguis. Larvae have white middorsal and subdorsal stripes, lacking in flavilinguis, and more regular black banding. The subventral area above the prolegs is mostly white, not jet black as in flavilinguis.
Print References
Powell, J.A. & P.A. Opler 2009. Moths of Western North America. University of California Press. pl.51.4m, p.284
Internet References
Noctuidae of N. Amer. - Poole, Nearctica
Texas Entomology - Mike Quinn, 2007
Works Cited
1.Moths of Western North America
Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.
2.Noctuidae of North America (nearctica.com)
3.North American Moth Photographers Group
4.The Moth Book
W. J. Holland. 1922. Doubleday, Page & Company.