Species Tetanolita floridana - Florida Tetanolita - Hodges#8368

8368

Tetanolita floridana – (Smith, 1895)

wingspan 20-24 mm

Adult: forewing light gray to brown with light orange to yellow reniform spot (sometimes obscured by dark median band); AM line scalloped; PM line jagged, irregular; subterminal area with dark grayish band; ST line irregular, usually composed of indistinct pale spots; hindwing similarly colored but often with pale continuous ST line

New York to Florida, west to Texas, north to Wisconsin

although Covell's Guide and Dalton State College give a range extending north to Nova Scotia, the species does not appear on the Moths of Canada list for eastern Canada

adults fly from April to October in the mid-states; all year in the far south; June to September in Ohio

larvae probably feed on dead leaves

Smoky Tetanolita (T. mynesalis) forewing is dark gray to blackish with larger and more contrasting reniform spot

some species of Bleptina and Renia are similar.

Renia sobrialis - Antennae of male T. floridana have node within basal third. Otherwise, may not be reliably separated but on average: the median band of R. sobrialis is straighter; T. floridana tends to have a dark patch at the apex; T. floridana has a more contrasting st. line which continues onto the HW. See comments by Jason D. Roberts here.

Smith, J. B., 1895. "Contributions Toward A Monograph Of The Insects Of The Lepidopterous Family Noctuidae Of Boreal North America. A Revision Of The Deltoid Moths." Bulletin of the United States National Museum. No. 48, 63 (1)

Forbes, 1954. Memoir: Number 329 - Lepidoptera of New York and Neighboring States, Part III, 403 (2)

Images and Info (Moth Photographers Group)

Images and Info (Barcoding Life)

presence in Ohio plus common name reference and flight season (Ohio State U.)

presence in Wisconsin new state record in 1996 [search on genus "Tetanolita"] (Lepidopterists Season Summary, U. of Florida)