Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Meganola spodia Franclemont, 1985
(1)
Phylogenetic sequence #931123
Explanation of Names
Specific epithet from Latin spodos meaning "ashes," for the ash-grey coloring of the moth.
Numbers
Eight
Meganola species are found in America north of Mexico.
(1)Size
Forewing length: males 9-11 mm; females 12-13 mm (Franclemont, 1985).
Identification
Adult: forewing light gray with mottled dark gray or blackish blotch halfway along costa, the blotch sometimes extending inward but becoming more diffuse toward inner margin; antemedial line thin, dark, usually complete; postmedial line double, inconspicuously toothed, extending down from costa in U-shaped loop, then continuing across to inner margin; a smaller dark gray patch usually present along costa at base of wing; terminal area with small brown blotches
hindwing dirty light gray (paler near inner margin) with gray discal spot
Per Franclemont (1985): "...it may be distinguished from that species by the darker, brown tinted gray color of the fore wing; minuscula has the fore wing lighter gray with a whitish or silvery tint, and the black spot at the middle of the costa is triangular, whereas that in spodia is rectangular. The hind wing is darker with a decided brownish tint in spodia, more or less uniform in color, whereas that of minuscula is paler gray, somewhat infuscate on the veins and somewhat whitish toward the base."
Range
Eastern United States plus Quebec and Ontario.
Holotype male: Wrangle Brook Road, Lakehurst, Ocean County, New Jersey, 26 June 1954 (J.G. Franclemont).
Season
Adults fly in June and July in Ontario; May to August in Ohio; probably extended season farther south.
See Also
Confused Meganola (
M. minuscula) tends to have a whiter forewing that lacks the dark gray blotches, and has a whiter hindwing
Other members of Nolinae tend to lack the double postmedial line that forms a U-shaped loop
Print References
Butler, L. 1989. Observations on
Meganola spodia Franclemont (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) with descriptions of the larvae.
Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. 91:
615-619.
Franclemont, J.G., 1985. A new species of
Meganola Dyar from Eastern North America (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Nolinae).
Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. 87(4):
871; figs.
1,2.
