Species Narraga fimetaria - Green Broomweed Looper - Hodges#6420

6420

Fernaldella fimetaria (Grote(1) & Robinson, 1870)(2)

Narraga fimetaria (Grote & Robinson, 1870)

Fidonia fimetaria Grote & Robinson, 1870 (3)

Grote & Robinson (1870) listed the wingspan 12-24 mm. (3)

Powell & Opler (2009) listed the forewing length 8-10 mm.(4)

Grote & Robinson (1870) original description as Fidonia fimetaria is available online.(3)

Adults are often mistaken for butterflies because they visit flowers during the day and hold their wings vertically over their back, displaying the brightly-patterned underside of the hindwing; the feathery antennae distinguishes them from butterflies. Upperside of wings light to medium brown with pale yellowish patches along the costa of forewing; fringe checkered dark brown and white.

Specimen determined by DNA analysis (BOLD). (5)

Texas and Oklahoma to California, strays north to southern Alberta and Saskatchewan - Map (6), Quite common in south and southwest Texas.(7)

Dry shrublands, sparsely-vegetated sandy areas.

Adults fly from May to August in the north, or as early as March in the south.

Prairie broomweed (Amphiachyris dracunculoides) has been recorded as a host in Texas. McFarland found them on threadleaf snakeweed (Gutierrezia microcephala) in the Mojave Desert.(4)

One or two generations per year. Eggs laid in ropelike rows.(4)

Fernaldella stalachtaria forewing upperside mostly orangish-yellow, rather than brown.

Fernaldella georgiana occurs only in Georgia, and has mostly dark brown wings.

Ferguson, D.C., 2008. Moths of America North of Mexico. Fascicle 17.2. The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation, p. 345; pl. 8, figs. 61-63. (2)

Grote, A.R. & C.T., Robinson, 1870. Description of American Lepidoptera, no. 5. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 3: 182. (3)

Powell, J.A. & P.A. Opler, 2009. Moths of Western North America. University of California Press, pl. 27, fig. 41; p. 206. (4)

Moth Photographers Group (6)

E.H. Strickland Museum (8)

The Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) (5)

pinned adult images of male and female (CBIF)

distribution in Canada listing Saskatchewan and Alberta (CBIF)