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 Heterocampa pulverea - Hodges#7990.1

White-blotched Heterocampa - Heterocampa pulverea - male White-blotched Heterocampa - Heterocampa pulverea Heterocampa umbrata - Heterocampa pulverea 7990 – Heterocampa umbrata – White-blotched Heterocampa - Heterocampa pulverea moth 4062 - Heterocampa pulverea Unnown Caterpillar - Heterocampa pulverea caterpillar - Heterocampa pulverea Pink Caterpillar - Heterocampa pulverea
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 Notodontidae (Prominent Moths)
Subfamily Heterocampinae
Genus Heterocampa
Species pulverea (Heterocampa pulverea - Hodges#7990.1)
Hodges Number
7990.1
Other Common Names
Eastern White-blotched Prominent (iNaturalist)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Heterocampa pulverea Grote & Robinson, 1867
Heterocampa ab. nigra Chermock, 1927
Explanation of Names
Heterocampa pulverea Grote & Robinson, 1867, revised status in Miller et al. (2021) (1), was formerly treated as a subspecies of Heterocampa umbrata Walker, 1855 in the 1983 Hodges Checklist.
Size
Forewing length = 21.0 - 29.5 mm.(1)
Identification
Larger, mottled grayish, brown, green, with dark lines, white blotch near apex of forewing (2).


Prothorax with pair of raised, shiny reddish knobs to either side of white mid-dorsal patch. (3)

Compare to H. biundata with head dull red-pink to red-purple, produced upward with dark knob to either die of midline. (3)
Range
Eastern US and Canada. Absent south of the Florida Panhandle.
Type locality (pulverea): New York, Pennsylvania.
Type locality (ab. nigra): [Pittsburgh, PA].
Habitat
Oak forests.
Season
The main flight period appears to be March to October; longer flight in southern states.
Mature larvae reported May to November. (3) (umbrata north of FL in reference = pulverea)
Life Cycle
The larvae feed on oaks (Quercus). Two generations per year in much of range.
See Also
Heterocampa umbrata is found in FL and southeastern GA. Forewing lines tend to be broken and poorly defined. Best separated by genitalia.(1)
Internet References
Works Cited
1.Noctuoidea, Notodontidae (Part 2, Conclusion): Heterocampinae, Nystaleinae, Dioptinae, Dicranurinae
Miller, J.S., D.L. Wagner, P.A. Opler & J.D. Lafontaine. 2021. The Moths of America north of Mexico, Fascicle 22.1B: 1-443.
2.Peterson Field Guides: Eastern Moths
Charles V. Covell. 1984. Houghton Mifflin Company.
3.Caterpillars of Eastern North America
David L. Wagner. 2005. Princeton University Press.
4.North American Moth Photographers Group