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

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

Photos of insects and people from the 2018 gathering in Virginia, July 27-29


Previous events


TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Species Leuconycta diphteroides - Green Leuconycta - Hodges#9065

Green Leuconycta - Leuconycta diphteroides Green Leuconycta - Leuconycta diphteroides Lichen moth - Leuconycta diphteroides Moth - Leuconycta diphteroides Green Leuconycta Moth  - Leuconycta diphteroides Green Leuconycta - Leuconycta diphteroides Pale Green Moth - Leuconycta diphteroides Moth that looks like it has lichen on its wings - Leuconycta diphteroides
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 Condicinae
Tribe Leuconyctini
Genus Leuconycta
Species diphteroides (Green Leuconycta - Hodges#9065)
Hodges Number
9065
Other Common Names
Green Owlet (Moths of North Dakota)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
First described in 1852 by Achille Guenée as Microcoelia diphteroides.
Explanation of Names
Diphtera is an obsolete name for the genus Moma. Guenée had the entry for that genus right after the original description of this species, and mentioned "Orion" (no doubt Diphtera/Moma orion) in that description. "diphteroides" therefore probably means "resembling Diphtera"
Size
wingspan 27-32 mm (1)
Identification
Adult: forewing suffused with green (shade may vary from bright green to bluish-green to grayish-green) or rarely all-white; small black rectangular blotch touches costa near base, and another larger blotch half-way along costa, extending inward almost half the wing's width; one form has a number of black lines and spots scattered across the wing surface, whereas the form "obliterata" is relatively unmarked (see Lynn Scott's examples in links below); hindwing pale grayish with dull yellowish terminal band
Range
Eastern North America: Nova Scotia to Florida, west to Texas, north to Saskatchewan
Habitat
fields, open places; adults are nocturnal and come to light
Season
Mainly univoltine with a partial second generation on Block Island, RI, with adult records from early May through early August.(2)
Food
larvae feed on goldenrod and aster species
Print References
Covell, p. 148 & plate 26 #19 (1)
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group - species page with photographs of living and pinned adults.
adult images (Larry Line, Maryland)
pinned adult image and other info (Gerald Fauske, Moths of North Dakota)
pinned adult image (James Adams, Dalton State College, Georgia)
Works Cited
1.Peterson Field Guides: Eastern Moths
Charles V. Covell. 1984. Houghton Mifflin Company.
2.Block Island Moths