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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Hooktip and False Owlet Moths (Drepanoidea) » Hooktip and False Owlet Moths (Drepanidae) » Hooktip Moths (Drepaninae) » Oreta » Rose Hooktip - Hodges#6255 (Oreta rosea)

Species Oreta rosea - Rose Hooktip - Hodges#6255

Classification · Hodges Number · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
Rose Hook-tip - Oreta rosea Rose Hooktip - irrorata form - Oreta rosea Oreta rosea rose hooktip - Oreta rosea Oreta rosea Oreta rosea Rose Hooktip Moth - Oreta rosea Pennsylvania Moth - Oreta rosea Caterpillar - Oreta rosea
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 Drepanoidea (Hooktip and False Owlet Moths)
Family Drepanidae (Hooktip and False Owlet Moths)
Subfamily Drepaninae (Hooktip Moths)
Genus Oreta
Species rosea (Rose Hooktip - Hodges#6255)
Hodges Number
6255
Numbers
the only species in this genus in North America
Size
Wingspan 25-34 mm.
Identification
Adult: typical color form is yellow and a delicate pink in broad bands--distinctive, along with hooktip shape. Forewing PM line angles back sharply toward costa below apex. Hindwing PM line wavy, sometimes lacking. Form "irrorata" is entirely brown or brownish-purple with dark lines - a leaf mimic.
Larva: orange to brown; head with prominent thorny projection to either side, resembling two horns; third thoracic segment arched; tail with long tapering point, the only eastern caterpillar with the latter feature.
Range
TX-FL-NL-WI, + w. Canada - MAP (MPG)
Habitat
Deciduous forests, adjacent areas
Season
adults fly from May to September
larvae from July to October
Food
Larva feeds on leaves of birch (Betula spp.) and Viburnum species.
Life Cycle
two generations per year
Larva; larva; adult
Remarks
The two color forms look like different species.
See Also
Other hooktips are colored differently, usually much lighter. See this page at Drepanoidea of Canada.
Juniper Geometer (Patalene olyzonaria) resembles brown form of Rose Hooktip but has a black discal spot near costa, and a straight PM line on hindwing.
Print References
Covell, p. 343, plate 46 #1. (1)
Himmelman, plate B-5. (2)
Wagner, Caterpillars of Eastern Forests, p. 68 (3)
Wagner, Caterpillars of Eastern North America, p. 139--photo of adult (specimen) and caterpillar (4)
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group (MPG)
Maryland Moths--shows two color forms
pinned adult images of two color forms (CBIF)
distribution in Canada list of provinces (CBIF)
Works Cited
1.Peterson Field Guides: Eastern Moths
Charles V. Covell. 1984. Houghton Mifflin Company.
2.Discovering Moths: Nighttime Jewels in Your Own Backyard
John Himmelman. 2002. Down East Books.
3.Caterpillars of Eastern Forests
David L. Wagner, Valerie Giles, Richard C. Reardon, Michael L. McManus. 1998. U.S. Dept of Agriculture, Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team.
4.Caterpillars of Eastern North America
David L. Wagner. 2005. Princeton University Press.
Contributed by Cotinis on 6 May, 2004 - 3:33pm
Additional contributions by Robin McLeod, Mike Quinn, marcie oconnor
Last updated 12 February, 2022 - 3:26pm

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