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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths (Geometroidea) » Geometrid Moths (Geometridae) » Larentiinae » Lobophorini » Aplocera » Treble-bar Moth - Hodges#7627 (Aplocera plagiata)

Species Aplocera plagiata - Treble-bar Moth - Hodges#7627

Classification · Hodges Number · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · Internet References · Works Cited

Treble-bar Moth - Aplocera plagiata - Hodges #7627 - Aplocera plagiata

Treble-bar - Hodges#7627 - Aplocera plagiata

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 Larentiinae

Tribe Lobophorini

Genus Aplocera

Species plagiata (Treble-bar Moth - Hodges#7627)

Hodges Number

7627

Other Common Names

Defoliating Moth (Agriculture Canada)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Aplocera plagiata (Linnaeus, 1758)

formerly Anaitis plagiata

Phylogenetic Sequence # 910468

Explanation of Names

PLAGIATA: from the Greek "plagios" (oblique); possibly refering to the lines on the forewing

Numbers

the only species in this genus in North America.

Size

wingspan 30-38 mm

larva length to 22 mm

Identification

Adult: forewing brown to gray with triple AM, median, and PM lines containing faint cross-bars, giving the appearance of sheet music (perhaps the origin of the common name, Treble-bar); dark apical dash with yellowish or orangish shading

hindwing pale grayish with tiny black discal spot. At rest, wings are held together but not overlapping, giving an overall triangular shape.

Specimens identified by DNA analysis:

Larva: head small, brown; body stout, gray dorsally with broad white lateral stripe, brown ventrolaterally, and pale brown below.

Range

Native to Europe; introduced to British Columbia in 1976, and the Ottawa area of Ontario in the 1980s to control St. Johnswort. It has since spread to Quebec.

First recorded in United States in 2003 (near Plattsburgh, New York)

Moth Photographers Group - large map with some collection locations and dates.

Habitat

dry fields and waste places containing St. Johnswort

Season

adults fly during May and June, and again in August and September (two broods)

Food

larvae feed on leaves of St. Johnswort (Hypericum spp.)

Life Cycle

two generations per year; up to 300 white eggs are laid singly or in groups on flowers and leaves of host plant; overwinters as a larva in the soil; pupates in May (first brood) and again in August

Larva:

Remarks

Introduced to North America in an attempt to control St. Johnswort, which is considered a weed in many areas; attempts to establish the moth in the maritime provinces have been unsuccessful.

Larvae can feed in sunlight, as their cuticle filters out 80 percent of the sun's ultraviolet rays.

Internet References

Moth Photographers Group (1)

Barcode of Life (BOLD)

Works Cited

1.	North American Moth Photographers Group

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 9 January, 2005 - 3:35pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Tony-2, anitagould, Maury Heiman, Robert H. Biagi, Steve Morris
Last updated 9 February, 2023 - 9:41pm

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