Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Feralia comstocki - Comstock's Sallow - Hodges#10008

Comstock's Sallow - Feralia comstocki 1992 Feralia comstocki - Comstock's Sallow - 10008 - Feralia comstocki Comstock's sallow - Feralia comstocki Family Noctuidae - Feralia comstocki Feralia comstocki Feralia major? - Feralia comstocki - female Comstock's Sallow - Feralia comstocki Feralia comstocki - Comstock's Sallow - Feralia comstocki
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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 Amphipyrinae
Tribe Psaphidini
Subtribe Feraliina (Mossy Sallows)
Genus Feralia
Species comstocki (Comstock's Sallow - Hodges#10008)
Hodges Number
10008
Explanation of Names
Named for John Henry Comstock, (born 1849), entomologist and one of the founders of the Nature Study Movement of the early 20th century. His wife, Anna Botsford Comstock, was an equally prominent member of that movement, and perhaps more famous today than John.
Size
wingspan 33-39 mm
larva length to 35 mm
Identification
Adult: described by Covell (1) as having bright green FW, sometimes fading to yellowish; lines scalloped, broken, black, edged with white; note three squarish black blotches around reniform spot. HW cream; gray discal spot, partial median line, and broken shade in ST area; some green along black terminal line.
Larva: head pale green, unmarked or marked with dark brown at sides of frons; body bright or dark green with white middorsal and subdorsal stripes; prominent bicolored spiracular stripe (white and yellow on bottom, red on top); in eastern larvae, subdorsal and spiracular stripes interrupted or constricted where segments meet; subspiracular row of white or yellowish spots above abdominal prolegs
Range
southern Canada and northern United States: Newfoundland to North Carolina, west to Oregon, north to British Columbia
Habitat
coniferous and mixed forests
Season
adults fly from April or May to June
larvae present June to August or September, at which time pupation occurs
Food
in the east, larvae feed on foliage of Balsam Fir, Eastern Hemlock, spruce (Picea spp.), and possibly other conifers
in the west, principal host is Douglas-fir; other hosts include Western Hemlock, Subalpine Fir, Engelmann Spruce, White Spruce
Life Cycle
one generation per year; overwinters as a pupa in soil or debris
Remarks
An early spring moth of the north woods. Himmelman (2) calls this species "black and tennis-ball green".
See Also
Feralia deceptiva – has mostly green forewing with black & white meandering AM and PM lines (western species)

Feralia februalis –has large white orbicular and reniform spots (occurs only in the far west)

Feralia jocosa – small size, dark HW and lack large patches of black scales on FW

Feralia major - has only one black blotch, on basal side of reniform spot; orbicular and reniform spots darker, HW gray (eastern species, less common in west)
Print References
Covell, p. 117, plate 24 #2 (1)
Himmelman, p. 122 - illustration (2)
Miller, #165, p. 84 (3)
Wagner, p. 42 - F. jocosa, very similar caterpillar (4)
Internet References
live adult images plus description, flight season, food plants (Lynn Scott, Ontario)
pinned adult image plus description, flight season, food plants, similar species (Jeff Miller, Macromoths of Northwest Forests and Woodlands; USGS)
pinned adult images showing variation in color (Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility)
pinned adult and live larva images by James Adams and David Wagner respectively (Dalton State College, Georgia)
live larva image plus description, eastern food plants, biology (C.T. Maier et al, USDA Forest Service, forestpests.org)
live larva image plus description, western food plants, biology, seasonality, distribution (Conifer Defoliating Insects of British Columbia, Canadian Forest Service)
distribution in eastern Canada list of provinces (CBIF)
distribution in western Canada list of provinces (CBIF)
Works Cited
1.Peterson Field Guides: Eastern Moths
Charles V. Covell. 1984. Houghton Mifflin Company.
2.Discovering Moths: Nighttime Jewels in Your Own Backyard
John Himmelman. 2002. Down East Books.
3.Macromoths of Northwest Forests and Woodlands
Jeffrey Miller, Paul Hammond. 2000. USDA Forest Service, FHTET-98-18.
4.Caterpillars of Eastern Forests
David L. Wagner, Valerie Giles, Richard C. Reardon, Michael L. McManus. 1998. U.S. Dept of Agriculture, Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team.