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

TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Species Melanchra assimilis - Black Arches - Hodges#10295

Huckleberry Caterpillar - Melanchra assimilis Striped Garden - Melanchra assimilis M. assimilis? - Melanchra assimilis Black Arches - Hodges#10295 - Melanchra assimilis Melanchra assimilis Trichordestra? at Candle Lake - Melanchra assimilis Melanchra assimilis Melanchra assimilis
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 Noctuinae (Cutworm or Dart Moths)
Tribe Hadenini
Genus Melanchra
Species assimilis (Black Arches - Hodges#10295)
Hodges Number
10295
Other Common Names
Similar Black Noctuid
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
described in 1874 by Morrison, who originally placed it in genus Mamestra
Numbers
uncommon to rare(1)
Size
wingspan 30-40 mm
Identification
Adult: forewing dark blackish-brown with black lines and spots faint or inconspicuous; subterminal line a series of whitish dots, broadening to form a wavy white mark at anal angle; hindwing shiny yellowish-white with blackish veins, discal spot, and double border.(1)


Larva: either green or brown with broad yellow stripes. Subdorsal stripe edged with white and black; spiracular stripe with reduced black edging below. Spiracles white, ringed in black. Head green or brown with short yellow line through uppermost eyes.(2)
Range
British Columbia to Nova Scotia, south to Virginia, west to Minnesota
Season
adults fly from June to August
Food
Larvae feed on bracken, sweetfern, goldenrod, st. johnswort, alder, ash, birch, willow.
Wagner(2) also lists aster, goldenrod, mullein, raspberry, and tamarack and concludes: "primarily a generalist on low-growing plants."
See Also
Melanchra pulverulenta forewing more mottled and with more conspicuous white markings in subterminal area (compare images of both species at CBIF)
Internet References
distribution map plus live and pinned adult images (Moth Photographers Group)
pinned adult image (John Glaser, Maryland)
Works Cited
1.Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America
Charles V. Covell, Jr. 2005.
2.Caterpillars of Eastern North America
David L. Wagner. 2005. Princeton University Press.