Identification
Adult: forewing uniformly light to dark reddish-brown, rectangular, with sharply-pointed apex; outer margin straight or slightly falcate; reniform spot dark grayish, barely darker than ground color; PM line a gently curving series of dark dots; hindwing dark gray with faint black discal spot and brown fringe; male antennae filiform; head and thorax dark brown, contrasting with lighter grayish abdomen
Range
west coast from British Columbia to California
Season
adults fly in late winter and spring
Food
larvae feed on leaves of Madrone (Arbutus menziesii) and Rhododendron species
See Also
Orthosia mys has more red in its forewing and thorax, the hindwing is pale pinkish, and moths fly in the fall (
compare images of both species)
Orthosia pulchella has very dark gray wings and a black thorax; males have pectinate antennae (
compare images of both species)
Internet References
pinned adult image plus description, food plants, flight season (Jeff Miller, Macromoths of Northwest Forests and Woodlands; USGS)
pinned adult image and technical description (California Dept. of Food and Agriculture)
25 specimen records from California plus locations and dates (U. of California at Berkeley)
distribution in Canada BC only (U. of Alberta, using CBIF data)
Contributed by
Robin McLeod on 8 February, 2006 - 6:31am
Additional contributions by
Steve MorrisLast updated 18 May, 2022 - 3:09pm
