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Species Macaria coortaria - Four-spotted Macaria - Hodges#6299

Speranza coortaria - Four-spotted Speranza - Hodges#6299 - Macaria coortaria - male Speranza coortaria - Four-spotted Speranza - Hodges#6299 - Macaria coortaria Macaria coortaria - male Four-spotted Speranza - Hodges#6299 - Macaria coortaria - female Speranza coortaria - Macaria coortaria - male Moth - Macaria coortaria - male Texas SE Gulf Coast - Macaria coortaria Macaria coortaria - Four-spotted Speranza - Hodges#6299 - Macaria coortaria
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 Geometroidea (Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths)
Family Geometridae (Geometrid Moths)
Subfamily Ennominae
Tribe Macariini
Genus Macaria
Species coortaria (Four-spotted Macaria - Hodges#6299)
Hodges Number
6299
Other Common Names
formerly Four-spotted Itame and Four-spotted Speranza (no longer classified in the genera Itame or Speranza)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Speranza coortaria(Hulst, 1887)
Thamnonoma coortaria Hulst, 1887
Ferguson (2008) places Speranza in the tribe Macariini. (1)
Itame coortaria
Scoble et al. (1999) placed in genus Macaria.
Size
Wingspan 22-26 mm. with females averaging the larger size. (1)
Identification
Adult: Forewing light cream to light gray-brown with four dark spots evenly spaced along costa; all spots similar size except distal one usually smaller and fainter. Hindwing white to pale yellow with a few dark scales along inner margin.
Type locality: Texas(1)
Range
Saskatchewan to Maine to Florida(2), west to Texas(3) and Colorado(1)
Habitat
Open woodlands containing larval foodplant.
Season
Adults fly from June to August in the north; April to November in the south.
Food
Larvae feed on leaves of apple, cherry, hawthorn, pear, willow.
Life Cycle
One generation per year in the north, two in the south with November adults seen in Florida. (1)
See Also
Other species of Macaria have additional markings on the forewing.
Print References
Ferguson, D.C., 2008. The Moths of North America, Fascicle 17.2. The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation. p. 99; pl. 2, figs. 29-30. (1)
Scoble, M.J., (Ed), 1999. Geometrid Moths of the World. A Catalogue. NHM Publishing, London. 1312 pp.
Internet References
common name reference plus larval foodplants and flight season (Ohio State U.)
presence in Texas; list (Dale Clark, Texas)