Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar
Upcoming Events

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2018 gathering in Virginia, July 27-29


Previous events


TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Species Euchlaena obtusaria - Obtuse Euchlaena - Hodges#6726

brown moth - Euchlaena obtusaria Euchlaena obtusaria - female moth lrg brown - Euchlaena obtusaria Obtuse Euchlaena - Euchlaena obtusaria Obtuse Euchlaena - Euchlaena obtusaria Euchlaena obtusaria - female Unidentified moth - Euchlaena obtusaria - female Geometrid for ID - Euchlaena obtusaria - 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 Geometroidea (Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths)
Family Geometridae (Geometrid Moths)
Subfamily Ennominae
Tribe Angeronini
Genus Euchlaena
Species obtusaria (Obtuse Euchlaena - Hodges#6726)
Hodges Number
6726
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Euchlaena obtusaria (Hübner, [1813])
Endropia obtusaria (Hübner, [1813])
Geometria obtusaria Hübner, [1813
Euchlaena ecisaria (Walker, 1860)
Decisaria incisaria (Walker, 1866)
Size
Wingspan 27-48 mm
Identification
Adult: wings smooth purplish-gray, tan, or dark chestnut brown with yellow on median. The combination of black spots at tip of forewing and deeply serrated hindwing is a distinguishing feature of this species.
Larva: an excellent twig mimic, striped with pale brown and bearing two short dorsal protuberances on the fifth abdominal segment. [Wagner et al. 2001]
Genitalia:

Range
Eastern two-thirds of North America (US and southern Canada east of the Rockies). (1)
Habitat
Mixedwood forests
Season
Adults fly from April to September (only June and July in the north).
Food
Larvae feed on roses and Impatiens.
Life Cycle
Up to 230 eggs are laid, hatching in only three to four days; overwinters as larva, likely in the fifth instar. [McGuffin 1981]
See Also
The combination of deeply serrated hindwing and black spots at apex of forewing separates E. obtusaria from other Euchlaena species.

Print References
Covell, p. 361, plate 51 #16 (2)
Works Cited
1.Assessment of species diversity in the Atlantic Maritime Ecozone
McAlpine D.F., Smith I.M. (eds.). 2010. Canadian Science Publishing (NRC Research Press). 785 pp.
2.Peterson Field Guides: Eastern Moths
Charles V. Covell. 1984. Houghton Mifflin Company.
3.North American Moth Photographers Group
4.BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data Systems