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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Owlet Moths and kin (Noctuoidea) » Owlet Moths (Noctuidae) » Acronictinae » Dagger Moths (Acronicta) » Hesitant Dagger - Hodges#9244 (Acronicta modica)

Species Acronicta modica - Hesitant Dagger - Hodges#9244

Classification · Hodges Number · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Size · Identification · Range · Season · Food · Life Cycle · See Also · Internet References

Hesitant Dagger - Hodges#9245 (Acronicta haesitata) - Acronicta modica

Acronicta haesitata - Acronicta modica - male

Acronicta haesitata (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]

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

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MPG

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 3 November, 2005 - 6:11pm
Additional contributions by Ethan Kistler, marcie oconnor, Blocky
Last updated 16 June, 2020 - 12:55pm

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