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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Owlet Moths and kin (Noctuoidea) » Owlet Moths (Noctuidae) » Cutworm or Dart Moths (Noctuinae) » Xylenini » Xylenina » Swordgrass Moths (Xylena) » Gray Swordgrass - Hodges#9876 (Xylena cineritia)

Species Xylena cineritia - Gray Swordgrass - Hodges#9876

Classification · Hodges Number · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · See Also · Internet References
Gray Swordgrass - Xylena cineritia Gray Swordgrass Moths in copula - Xylena cineritia - male - female Noctuidae: Xylena cineritia - Xylena cineritia Noctuidae: Xylena cineritia - Xylena cineritia Noctuidae: Xylena cineritia - Xylena cineritia Xylena cineritia - male Xylena cineritia - female Xylena cineritia - Gray Swordgrass - Hodges#9876 - Xylena cineritia - 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 Noctuoidea (Owlet Moths and kin)
Family Noctuidae (Owlet Moths)
Subfamily Noctuinae (Cutworm or Dart Moths)
Tribe Xylenini
Subtribe Xylenina
Genus Xylena (Swordgrass Moths)
Species cineritia (Gray Swordgrass - Hodges#9876)
Hodges Number
9876
Explanation of Names
CINERITIA: from the Latin "cinereus" (ashy); probably refers to the ash-gray color of the lower half of the forewing
Numbers
rare in Quebec and New York; known to cycle in and out of some areas
Size
wingspan 40-51 mm
Identification
Adult: forewing lower half dark bluish-gray; upper half light gray basally; light pinkish-yellow streak beyond reniform spot; no basal dash; reniform spot strongly curved, pale-centered with dark outline; orbicular spot black, oval; small whitish apical patch
hindwing grayish-brown with thin dark terminal line
Genitalia:
♀
♂
Range
northern United States and southern Canada (Newfoundland to New Jeersy, west to California, north to British Columbia)
Habitat
in the east: Pitch Pine-Scrub Oak barrens and heathlands on sandplains or rocky ridges and summits; shrublands
in the west: high-elevation conifer forests
Season
adults fly from September to November, and again in April and May
Food
larvae feed on leaves of alder, birch, blueberry, Buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis), elder (Sambucus spp.), maple, meadowsweet, oak, poplar, rose, willow
Life Cycle
two generations per year; overwinters as an adult
See Also
Xylena thoracica is most similar but forewing lower half lighter gray, and yellow subapical streak smaller and paler
X. curvimacula forewing upper half has broad yellow streak from base to outer margin, and black basal dash
X. nupera forewing upper half yellowish-brown, and lower half dark brown; also has black median streak and basal dash
in the west, X. brucei forewing uniformly light gray with no yellow streak
(compare images of all five species)
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group (MPG)
Pacific Northwest Moths
Barcode of Life (BOLD)
pinned adult image plus description, habitat, food plants, flight season, similar species (Jeff Miller, Macromoths of Northwest Forests and Woodlands, USGS)
pinned adult image and technical description (California Dept. of Food and Agriculture)
habitat and food plants; PDF doc (David Wagner et al, U. of New Hampshire)
flight season and food plants plus life cycle and status (Macrolepidoptera of Mont Saint-Hilaire Region, McGill U., Quebec)
status in New York (Tim McCabe, New York State Museum, USGS)
presence in California; list (U. of California at Berkeley)
distribution in Canada list of provinces (U. of Alberta, using CBIF data)
Contributed by Robin McLeod on 16 March, 2006 - 12:19am
Additional contributions by marcie oconnor, Robert H. Biagi, Steve Morris
Last updated 14 September, 2023 - 10:59am

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