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Species Acronicta modica - Hesitant Dagger - Hodges#9244

Hesitant Dagger - Acronicta modica Acronicta haesitata - Acronicta modica Hesitant Dagger - Acronicta modica Acronicta haesitata - Hesitant Dagger  - Acronicta modica Acronicta sp. - Acronicta modica acronicta - Acronicta modica Acronicta modica Hesitant Dagger? - Acronicta modica
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 Acronictinae
Genus Acronicta (Dagger Moths)
Species modica (Hesitant Dagger - Hodges#9244)
Hodges Number
9244
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Acronicta modica (Walker, 1856)
Acronicta haesitata (Grote, 1882)
Size
wingspan 30-43 mm
Identification
Adult: forewing medium gray with AM and PM line usually conspicuously double; basal dash thick but usually not touching small blackish blotch at middle of AM line; hindwing grayish-brown
[description by Charles Covell]
Genitalia:


Larva: greenish-, yellowish-, orangish-, or pinkish-brown with white setae along sides of body; head pinkish-tan, mottled; dorsum of last thoracic and anterior abdominal segments with irregular white blotches and interrupted middorsal stripe; rear segments with yellowish subdorsal splotches; rests with head against side of abdomen in leaf shelter
[description by David Wagner and Valerie Giles]
Several closely-related Acronicta species (albarufa, inclara, increta, modica, ovata) also on oaks with similarly-marked caterpillars
Range
Nova Scotia to South Carolina, west to Texas, north to Ontario
Season
adults fly from April to August or September; peak numbers in June and July
larvae from June to October
Food
larvae feed on leaves of Red Oak and White Oak
Life Cycle
two generations per year in the south; one in the north
See Also
A. increta and ovata are similar but have more extensive dark shading in basal area of forewing (compare images of all three species)
Internet References