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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Owlet Moths and kin (Noctuoidea) » Erebidae » Erebinae » Omopterini » Zale » Horrid Zale - Hodges#8717 (Zale horrida)

Species Zale horrida - Horrid Zale - Hodges#8717

Classification · Hodges Number · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited

Horrid Zale - Hodges#8717 - Zale horrida

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 Erebidae

Subfamily Erebinae

Tribe Omopterini

Genus Zale

Species horrida (Horrid Zale - Hodges#8717)

Hodges Number

8717

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Zale horrida Hübner, 1818

Phaeocyma horrida (Smith's 1908 rediscription)

Phylogenetic sequence # 931053

Explanation of Names

The German entomologist Jacob Hubner, 1761-1826, named this species. See John Himmelman's article. Himmelman quotes a friend, Eric Metzler, on the origin: Latin "horridus" (adjectival horrida) means "standing on end, sticking out, rough shaggy, bristly, prickly". Aha! So Hubner did not think this was a horrifying moth at all!

horrid means "bristly" and refers to the bristles on the thorax"(1)

Numbers

Lafontaine & Schmidt (2010) listed 39 species of the genus Zale species in America north of Mexico. (2)

Size

Wingspan 3.5-4 cm(3)

Crumb (1956) reported the larva mature to 40 mm. (4)

Range

Canada to Florida and Texas. (5)

Habitat

Deciduous forests

Season

March to October, longer flight in Florida.

Food

Larvae feed on Nanyberry Viburnum lentago (Wyatt)(3)

Print References

Covell, p. 168, plate 38 #19 (3)

Crumb, S.E. 1956. The larvae of the Phalaenidae United States Department of Agriculture Technical Bulletin 1135. p. 293. (4)

Smith, J.B. 1908. A revision of some species of Noctuidae heretofore referred to the genus Homoptera (Boisduval). Proceedings of the United States National Museum 35:. p. 270. (6)

Internet References

Moth Photographers Group (7)

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) (8)

Dallas Butterflies

Maryland Moths

Works Cited

1.	Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America Eric Eaton, Kenn Kaufman. 2006. Houghton Mifflin.

2.	Annotated check list of the Noctuoidea (Insecta, Lepidoptera) of North America north of Mexico. Donald J. Lafontaine, B. Christian Schmidt. 2010. ZooKeys 40: 1–239 .

3.	Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America Charles V. Covell, Jr. 2005.

4.	The Larvae of the Phalaenidae [Noctuidae] Samuel Ebb Crumb. 1956. U.S. Department of Agriculture Technical Bulletin 1135: 1-356.

5.	Owlet Caterpillars of Eastern North America David L. Wagner. 2011. Princeton University Press.

6.	A revision of some species of Noctuidae heretofore referred to the genus Homoptera (Boisduval) John B. Smith. 1908. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 35: 209-275.

7.	North American Moth Photographers Group

8.	BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data Systems

Contributed by Cotinis on 14 June, 2004 - 5:17pm
Additional contributions by Jason D. Roberts, Maury Heiman, Randy Hardy
Last updated 9 January, 2014 - 1:42pm

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