Species Drepanulatrix unicalcararia - Spurred Wave - Hodges#6682

6682

Drepanulatrix unicalcararia (Guenée, [1858])

Tephrina unicalcararia Guenée, 1857

Powell & Opler (2009) reported twelve species of the genus Drepanulatrix in America north of Mexico. (1)

Wingspan 30-34 mm, based on 4 Internet photos

Adult: forewing variably pale yellowish, brown, or gray with fine speckling and pointed apex; PM line yellow or orangish, slightly wavy, often broken in middle, sometimes bordered distally by black spots near upper and lower ends; AM line slightly irregular, faint or sometimes lacking; small dark discal spot, sometimes faint or lacking; no dotted terminal line; hindwing pale off-white, darker toward outer margin, with tiny dark discal dot (sometimes lacking)

Larva: body light brown with obscure brown markings, presumably cryptic against branches of hostplant

British Columbia and Alberta to California and Arizona

open mountain forests; adults are nocturnal and come to light

On the wing from March through October (2)

larvae feed only on leaves of New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus spp.)

one or possibly two generations per year

Drepanulatrix secundaria forewing has dotted terminal line and lacks yellow in PM line (compare images of both species at CBIF)

also see other Drepanulatrix species in MPG links below

Moth Photographers Group (3)

pinned adult image of 3 specimens, showing color and pattern variation (CBIF)

common name reference [Spurred Wave] plus habitat, flight season, description, foodplant, distribution (Strickland Entomological Museum, U. of Alberta)

presence in California; list (U. of California at Berkeley)

distribution in Canada list of provinces (CBIF)

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) (4)