Species Phaeoura quernaria - Oak Beauty - Hodges#6763

6763

Phaeoura quernaria (J.E. Smith, 1797)

Nacophora Hulst, 1896

There are nine named species of Phaeoura in America north of Mexico. (1)

Wingspan 37-56 mm; female larger.

Adult: wings powdery light to dark olive brown, with variable white patch at forewing apex, and white edging along black AM and PM lines, at least to costa; female with much broader white areas; blackish melanics common. [adapted from Covell (2005) (2)]

Larva: body thickened and robust (short and stout for a geometrid) mottled with browns and grays; head flat, sloping inward; vertex cleft; each spot on head made of 10 to 20 speckles; thorax swollen and humped, darkened above; dorsal paired raised warts on second and eighth abdominal segments, and ventral warts on third; subventral fringe of thickened setae between abdominal and anal prolegs. [adapted Wagner and Giles]

Moth Photographers Group - large map with some distribution data.

Deciduous forests.

Most records of adults are February to October in the south; shortened season in the north. (1)

Larvae present from June to October; earlier in the south.

Larvae feed on leaves of a variety of deciduous trees: basswood, birch, cherry, elm, hawthorn, oak, poplar, willow.

Two broods in south, one in north; overwinters as a pupa.

Pepper and Salt Geometer (Biston betularia) forewing lacks pale patches along costa

Melanistic individuals resemble a Zale species (family Erebidae)

Covell, p. 364, plate 54 #2 (2)

Wagner, p. 70 (3)

Moth Photographers Group

description of adult and larva plus similar species, distribution, food plants (Strickland Entomological Museum, U. of Alberta)

Larry Line, Maryland adult images

Caterpillars of Eastern Forests live larva image plus description, seasonality, generations (David Wagner and Valerie Giles; USGS)

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD)

Insects of Cedar Creek, Minnesota flight season, habitat, food plants