Species Lithophane antennata - Ashen Pinion - Hodges#9910

9910

Larva is one of many species called "green fruitworm"

Lithophane antennata

wingspan 35-42 mm

Adult: forewing pale gray; spots and lines black but very thin and inconspicuous; basal black dash with white edge above; paler gray area between basal dash and costa; orbicular spot double, with pale gray filling; reniform spot filled with reddish-brown and a bit of black at lower end; look for faint black outline of claviform spot; hindwing grayish-brown with slightly darker discal spot and median line [description by Charles Covell]

Larva: green with continuous yellowish dorsal, broken subdorsal and supraspiracular, and broad spiracular stripes; setae arise from whitish spots; each segment with 2 white dots to either side of middorsal stripe (green fruitworms in Orthosia and related genera have 1 or no clearly defined dorsal spots); head green, shiny with creamy upper lip [description by Wagner and Giles]

New Brunswick to South Carolina, west to Mississippi and Manitoba

Adults fly from March to May, and again from September to November (may occasionally fly on sunny days in winter); larvae in May and June

Larvae feed on leaves of apple, ash, cherry, crabapple, elm, hickory, maple, oak, peach, pear, plum, willow.

They have been observed to feed on winter moth caterpillars and sawfly larvae (Sam Jaffe's observation, here, also B. Moisset, here)

One generation per year; overwinters as an adult

Moth Photographers Group (MPG)