Species Macrurocampa marthesia - Mottled Prominent - Hodges#7975

7975

Macrurocampa marthesia (Cramer, [1780])

* phylogenetic sequence #930067

The original description of the species by Pieter Cramer was published in 1780 (some sources say 1779) with the name Phalaena marthesia

Listed by some sources as Fentonia marthesia

Two Macrurocampa species are found in America north of Mexico.(1)

wingspan 38-55 mm

Adult: forewing blackish to grayish-brown from base to AM line; white, gray, brownish, green, or turquoise mottling beyond it (fresh and/or northern specimens seem more likely to contain green); double AM line bends sharply at midpoint; ST line toothed and parallel to outer margin; melanic specimens dark gray with slight whitish mottling

hindwing whitish with gray veins and outer margin

[adapted from description by Charles Covell]

Larva: head large with yellow lateral band, edged inwardly with broad, irregular, reddish-brown band; body somewhat triangular in cross section, pale green flecked with purple spots; yellow dorsal stripe often edged with red; oblique yellow lines run through abdominal spiracles; top of first thoracic segment with 2 small reddish warts; last segment with 2 "tails", proportionately longer in earlier instars

[adapted from description by David Wagner and Valerie Giles]

eastern North America (Nova Scotia to Florida, west to Texas, north to Manitoba)

deciduous forests

adults fly from April to September in the south, June to August in the north

larvae June to October

larvae feed on leaves of beech, maple, oak, and other deciduous trees

two generations per year in the south, one in the north

Larvae spin cocoons between leaves on the ground to pupate.(2)

Overwinter as pupa(2)

Moth Photographers Group - range map, photos of living and pinned adults.

BOLD - Barcode of Life Data Systems - species account with collection map and photos of pinned adults.

live adult images (Larry Line, Maryland)