Species Euxoa detersa - Rubbed Dart - Hodges#10838
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 Noctuini
Subtribe Agrotina
Genus Euxoa
No Taxon (Subgenus Euxoa)
No Taxon (detersa group)
Species detersa (Rubbed Dart - Hodges#10838)
Other Common Names Sandhill Cutworm (larva)
Sand Cutworm (larva)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes Euxoa detersa (Walker, 1856)
Charaeas detersa Walker, 1856
Numbers Two subspecies: the nominate occurs along the Atlantic seaboard and in the St. Lawrence Valley and the eastern part of the Great Lakes region; E. (E.) detersa personata is found from the Great Plains east through the Great Lakes region to the St. Lawrence River Valley. The nominate subspecies differs from ssp. personata "in having the forewing longitudinally streaked with pale shading on the costa, veins CuA, CuA1, and M3, and distal to the claviform spot." (1)
Identification Adult: forewing yellowish to dark brown, dark specimens tinted with gray; lines double, white-edged; orbicular and reniform spots whitish with dark brown outlines, and dots in their centers; hindwing dark brown (2)
E. d. detersa typical form has pale strip along costa of forewing, and dark shading between reniform and orbicular spots (see example from Maryland); another form from Canada and the Great Lakes lacks the pale strip and is more uniformly colored (see example at CBIF)
Larva: body white to pale gray; pulsations in blood vessel along back can be seen through cuticle; faint chalky-white stripes on back and sides; head dull reddish-brown
[description by U. of Illinois]
Range Newfoundland westward to Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories and to southwestern Alberta; it occurs southward to South Carolina, northern Missouri, southern Kansas, and northeastern Colorado. (1) The species occurs primarily in the Great Plains from Nebraska to the Canadian Prairie provinces, around the Great Lakes, and along the Atlantic coast from New Jersey to New Brunswick (Lafontaine, 1981).
Habitat sandy habitats: beaches, river shores, dunes, sandy agricultural fields, dry grasslands
adults visit flowers such as goldenrod during the day, and come to light at night
Season Flies end of August into October on Block Island, RI, where it occurs exclusively in dune habitats. (3)
Food larvae feed on corn, grasses, cranberry, saltwort, sea-rocket, various garden crops and commercial grains
Life Cycle one generation per year; overwinters as a partially-grown larva
Remarks Larvae construct subterranean burrows to feed on underground portions of host plants, and can be very destructive in fields planted in sandy soils.
"The commonest autumn dart to be found supping nectar from flower in the daytime." (Comment by David Beadle)
Print References Lafontaine, J.D. 1981. Classification and phylogeny of the Euxoa detersa group (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Quaestiones Entomologicae, 17: 1–120 (Figs. 60, 61, 93, 123, 155, 183). (4)
Lafontaine, J.D. 1982. Biogeography of the genus Euxoa (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in North America. Can. Ent., 114: 1–53
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