Species Feralia comstocki - Comstock's Sallow - Hodges#10008
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)
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)
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)
Works Cited 1. | Peterson Field Guides: Eastern Moths Charles V. Covell. 1984. Houghton Mifflin Company. | |
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. | |
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