Species Trichordestra legitima - Striped Garden Caterpillar Moth - Hodges#10304

10304

Striped Garden Caterpillar (larva)

Chenille rayée des jardins - En français… Ilze V-G.

Trichordestra legitima (Grote)

Orig. Comb: Apamea legitima Grote 1864

Syn: Lacanobia legitima (Grote)

wingspan 25-39 mm

larva to 35 mm

Adult: forewing inner half pale gray, and outer (costal) half reddish-brown; AM and PM lines double, slightly scalloped; claviform spot a sharp black triangle; orbicular spot oval, pale gray; reniform spot reddish-brown with blackish lower end; subterminal area a pale gray band, shading to reddish-brown near costa; hindwing pale brownish-yellow, shading to dark brownish-gray near outer margin, and with dark veins and discal lunule; fringe yellowish

Caterpillar: body brown with pair of yellow dorsal stripes edged in black; face tan-colored

eastern North America: Newfoundland to Florida, west to Texas, north to Saskatchewan - Map - (MPG)

Caterpillars are found in open areas of grass and flowers. Adults are nocturnal and come to light.

Adults from June to September. Caterpillars late summer through fall.

Trichordestra legitima larvae feed on a wide variety of woody and herbaceous plants, including asparagus, aster, bean, broomrape, cherry, clover, dogbane, goldenrod, grasses, milkweed, mustard, pea, raspberry, tobacco, violet, willow, yarrow

one generation per year; overwinters as a pupa

common

Trichordestra tacoma has a black patch bordering the lower end of the forewing reniform spot that is lacking in legitima.

(1) page 415

(2) plate 20, page 102

Moth Photographers Group (MPG)

Barcode of Life (BOLD)

adult images (Larry Line, Maryland)

live larva image (Dave Pelletier, Connecticut)

foodplants; PDF doc plus flight season, life cycle (Macrolepidoptera of Mont Saint-Hilaire Region, McGill U., Quebec)

presence in Florida; list (John Heppner, Florida State Collection of Arthropods)

presence in Texas; list (Dale Clark, Texas)