Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

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

Striped Garden Caterpillar Moth - Trichordestra legitima striped garden caterpillar moth - Trichordestra legitima Unknown caterpillar - Trichordestra legitima Trichordestra legitima Owlet Moth 2 - Trichordestra legitima Striped Garden Caterpillar Moth - Trichordestra legitima 9052003 moth - Trichordestra legitima Caterpillar on bermuda grass 2 - Trichordestra legitima
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 Trichordestra
Species legitima (Striped Garden Caterpillar Moth - Hodges#10304)
Hodges Number
10304
Other Common Names
Striped Garden Caterpillar (larva)
Chenille rayée des jardins - En français… Ilze V-G.
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Trichordestra legitima (Grote)
Orig. Comb: Apamea legitima Grote 1864
Syn: Lacanobia legitima (Grote)
Size
wingspan 25-39 mm
larva to 35 mm
Identification
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
Range
eastern North America: Newfoundland to Florida, west to Texas, north to Saskatchewan - Map - (MPG)
Habitat
Caterpillars are found in open areas of grass and flowers. Adults are nocturnal and come to light.
Season
Adults from June to September. Caterpillars late summer through fall.
Food
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
Life Cycle
one generation per year; overwinters as a pupa
Remarks
common
See Also
Trichordestra tacoma has a black patch bordering the lower end of the forewing reniform spot that is lacking in legitima.
Print References
(1) page 415
(2) plate 20, page 102
Internet References
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)
Works Cited
1.Caterpillars of Eastern North America
David L. Wagner. 2005. Princeton University Press.
2.Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America
Charles V. Covell, Jr. 2005.