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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths (Geometroidea) » Geometrid Moths (Geometridae) » Emeralds (Geometrinae) » Hemitheini » Mesothea » Day Emerald - Hodges#7085 (Mesothea incertata)

Species Mesothea incertata - Day Emerald - Hodges#7085

Classification · Hodges Number · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Remarks · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited

Day Emerald - Mesothea incertata - female

Moth, Mesothea incertata #7087 - Mesothea incertata

Mesothea incertata? - Mesothea incertata - male

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 Geometroidea (Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths)

Family Geometridae (Geometrid Moths)

Subfamily Geometrinae (Emeralds)

Tribe Hemitheini

Genus Mesothea

Species incertata (Day Emerald - Hodges#7085)

Hodges Number

7085

Other Common Names

Plain Emerald

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Mesothea incertata (Walker, [1863]) (1), (2)

Nemoria incertata Walker, 1862 (1)

Nemoria oporaria Zeller, 1872 (1)

Eucrostis viridipennata Hulst, 1896 (1)

Thamnonoma marinaria Strecker, 1899 (1)

Phylogenetic sequence # 208100

Numbers

The only species in this genus in North America. (1), (2)

Size

Forewing length 9-11 mm. (3)

Identification

Adult: wings uniformly yellowish-green to dusky green; PM line slightly wavy, indistinct (sometimes absent), often the only visible marking.

The area between the antennae base is green compared to white in Hethemia pistasciaria.

Larva: green with brown dorsal stripe; body slender and without noticeable bumps or protrusions; head and first thoracic segment with pair of pointed horns.

Range

Alaska to Newfoundland, south to North Carolina, west to California(4). (3)

Type locality: USA: Washington, Seattle. (1)

Moth Photographers Group - large map with some distribution data.

Habitat

Dry open mixedwood and pine forest, peat bogs, grasslands. (5)

Season

Adults fly during the day in April and August. (6)

Food

Larvae feed mainly on leaves of willow and Sweet Gale (Myrica gale), but also on alder, birch, Buffaloberry (Sherpherdia canadensis), gooseberry, New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus), pine, and members of the rose family (Rosaceae)

associated with Labrador Tea (Ledum groenlandicum) and Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) in Alberta. (5)

Remarks

Day flying moth that is usually not attracted to lights.

See Also

Hethemia pistasciaria (compare images of both species)

Hethemia pistasciaria has a white area between the antennae compared to green in Mesothea incertata

Compare to other related species on the pinned plates of Moth Photographers Group

Print References

Ferguson, D.C., 1985. The Moths of America North of Mexico, Fascicle 18.1: p. 127; pl. 4.84-91.(1)

Powell, J.A. & P.A. Opler 2009. Moths of Western North America, pl. 31.25m; p. 221. (3)

Internet References

Moth Photographers Group

E. H. Strickland Entomological Museum (University of Alberta)

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD)

pinned adult image (Insects of Quebec)

Works Cited

1.	The Moths of America North of Mexico Fascicle 18.1. Geometroidea, Geometridae (Part), Geometrinae Douglas C. Ferguson . 1985. The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation.

2.	A revision of the moths of the subfamily Geometrinae of America north of Mexico (Insecta, Lepidoptera) Douglas C. Ferguson. 1969. Peabody Museum of Natural History Yale University Bulletin 29.

3.	Moths of Western North America Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.

4.	Essig Museum of Entomology, California Moth Species List

5.	Butterflies and Moths of the Yukon J.D. Lafontaine & D.M. Wood. 1997. In: Danks H.V., Downes J.A. (Eds.), Insects of the Yukon. Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods), Ottawa: 787–86.

6.	North American Moth Photographers Group

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 14 January, 2006 - 4:10am
Additional contributions by Maury Heiman
Last updated 10 March, 2013 - 2:22pm

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