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Species Furcula cinerea - Gray Furcula - Hodges#7937

Furcula cinerea Notodontidae: Furcula cinerea - Furcula cinerea Furcula cinerea - Hodges #7937 - Furcula cinerea Notodontidae: Furcula cinerera - Furcula cinerea Furcula cinerea Furcula ? - Furcula cinerea Furcula cinerea? - Furcula cinerea Notodontidae, Gray Furcula, lateral - Furcula cinerea
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 Notodontidae (Prominent Moths)
Subfamily Cerurinae
Genus Furcula
Species cinerea (Gray Furcula - Hodges#7937)
Hodges Number
7937
Explanation of Names
CINEREA: from the Latin "cinereus" (ashy), from "cinis" (ashes) - having the color of ashes, a light gray; refers to the forewing color
Size
wingspan 31-42 mm
Identification
Adult: forewing light gray with low-contrast medium gray median and subterminal areas, or completely medium gray in some individuals; AM, PM, and terminal lines a series of black dots; small amounts of yellow or orange often present on forewing and top of thorax
hindwing light grayish-white with dark discal spot and terminal line of black dots

Larva: head brown; two small brown-barbed tubercles or "horns" on first thoracic segment; body green except for brown saddle-shaped areas edged in red on T1, A4, A5, A8, and A9 segments; anal prolegs modified into pair of long narrow tail-like projections ringed with brown, green, and red, giving the appearance of a forked tail
Range
all of United States and southern Canada, plus Northwest Territories
Season
adults fly from April to September in the south; May to August in the north
larvae from spring to fall in the south; July and August in the north
Food
larvae feed on leaves of birch, poplar, willow
Life Cycle
overwinters as a pupa; two generations per year in the south, one in the north
See Also
Light areas of forewing are white in F. borealis and scolopendrina, and pale tan or yellowish in modesta; in occidentalis, PM line is triple and continuous, and dark areas of wing are dark gray, providing good contrast against pale areas
The southwestern species, nivea, has a mostly white forewing.
cinerea group (1):
Furcula cinerea is found east of the Continental Divide.
Furcula cinereoides (Dyar, 1890) is found in British Columbia south into Mexico.
Furcula vargoi Miller & Wagner, 2018 is found in Colorado.
Furcula wileyi (Dyrar, 1922) is found in Alberta south through Montana and Colorado.
Furcula nalli Miller & Wagner, 2018 is found in southern Texas.
Furcula nivea (Neumögen, 1891) is found in Colorado, Utah and Arizona.
Works Cited
1.The Moths of America North of Mexico. Fascicle 22.1A
Miller, J.S., D.L. Wagner, P.A. Opler & J.D. Lafontaine. 2018. The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation.