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Species Calyptra canadensis - Canadian Owlet - Hodges#8536

Canadian owlet - Calyptra canadensis Canadian Owlet - Calyptra canadensis Canadian Owlet  - Calyptra canadensis Calyptra canadensis Calyptra canadensis Pennsylvania Moth - Calyptra canadensis Dark-spotted Looper (Diachrysia aereoides) - Calyptra canadensis Calyptra canadensis
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 Calpinae (Fruit-piercing Moths)
Tribe Calpini
Genus Calyptra (Vampire Moths)
Species canadensis (Canadian Owlet - Hodges#8536)
Hodges Number
8536
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Calyptra canadensis (Bethune)
Orig. Comb: Calpe canadensis Bethune, 1865
Numbers
the only species in this genus in North America listed at All-Leps
uncommon in the south; locally common in the north
Size
wingspan 33-40 mm
larva length to 35 mm
Identification
Adult: forewing light brown with darker brown bands, pointed apex, and angular outer margin; PM line sharp, nearly straight, slanting from apex to inner margin; dark scaling along veins; note two scale tufts on inner margin, the basal tuft forming a prominent lobe, and the distal one a small sharp point; hindwing grayish-brown; antennae bipectinate in both sexes
[adapted from description by Charles Covell (1)]

Caterpillar: white with scattered black spots along the back; broad broken black stripe along each side. Head yellow with three black spots on each side. To 3.5 cm (2)
Range
Map - Nova Scotia to North Carolina in mountains, west to Texas, north to Saskatchewan - occasionally straying to Alberta
Habitat
mesic and wet meadows; edges and clearings; adults are nocturnal and come to light
Season
adults fly from June to September in the south; July and August in the north (Quebec)
larvae from May to ?
Food
larvae feed on meadow-rue (Thalictrum spp.)
The adults can pierce the skin of large animals with their barbed proboscis and feed on blood.
Life Cycle
one generation per year in the north
Life cycle images:
1.larva 2.larva 3.larva 4.pupa 5.adult
See Also
Curve-lined Owlet (Phyprosopus callitrichoides) forewing has similar color and pattern but PM line is pale, apex has whitish shading, and hindwing is pale brownish-yellow (compare adult images or both species by Jim Vargo at MPG); Curve-lined Owlet also has a southern distribution (doesn't occur in Canada), the moth is smaller, and the larva is very different
Print References
Wagner, p.370 (2)
Internet References
Works Cited
1.Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America
Charles V. Covell, Jr. 2005.
2.Caterpillars of Eastern North America
David L. Wagner. 2005. Princeton University Press.