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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Owlet Moths and kin (Noctuoidea) » Erebidae » Erebinae » Euclidiini » Caenurgina » Forage Looper - Hodges#8739 (Caenurgina erechtea)

Species Caenurgina erechtea - Forage Looper - Hodges#8739

Classification · Hodges Number · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Remarks · See Also · Internet References · Works Cited
Forage Looper Moth - Caenurgina erechtea - female Moth - Caenurgina erechtea Erebidae: Caenurgina erechtea? - Caenurgina erechtea Erebidae: Caenurgina erechtea - Caenurgina erechtea Caenurgina erechtea Caenurgina erechtea? - Caenurgina erechtea Caenurgina erechtea? - Caenurgina erechtea A looper flushed into a shady area. - Caenurgina erechtea
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 Noctuoidea (Owlet Moths and kin)
Family Erebidae
Subfamily Erebinae
Tribe Euclidiini
Genus Caenurgina
Species erechtea (Forage Looper - Hodges#8739)
Hodges Number
8739
Other Common Names
Common Grass-moth (1)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Caenurgina erechtea (Cramer, [1780])
Phalaena erechtea Cramer, [1780] (2)
* phylogenetic sequence #930924
Numbers
Abundant.
Size
Wingspan 30-42 mm; female larger than male. (1)
Forewing length 14-23 mm. (3)
Identification
The following loosely applies to the 2 mentioned species. There is just too much variability for these descriptions to be valid much of the time.
Adult: The dark AM band does not touch the inner margin of the forewing; [whereas in Caenurgina crassiuscula, the dark AM band touches the inner margin].


This is a dissected, male C. erechtea. Note the mouse gray color and the AM dark area that does NOT touch the inner margin of the forewing.

Scales brushed from terminal end of abdomen in males of C. erechtea and C. crassiuscula
Range
Absent from the following parts of Canada where C. crassiuscula occurs: Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Yukon, Northwest Territories.
Otherwise, occurs coast to coast in United States and adjacent parts of Canada.
Habitat
Fields, roadsides, waste places; adults are active day and night, and are attracted to light.
Season
Adults fly from March to November.
Food
Larvae feed on alfalfa, clover, grasses, and Great Ragweed (Ambrosia trifida).
Remarks
Due to the similarity in spelling, the genus Caenurgina is sometimes confused with Caenurgia, a genus in the same subfamily and tribe as Caenurgina.
See Also
In Clover Looper (Caenurgina crassiuscula) the dark AM band touches the inner margin of the forewing.
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group
Pacific Northwest Moths
pinned adult image (Larry Line, Maryland)
Works Cited
1.University of Alberta Entomology Collection
2.Noctuidae; Lepidopterorum Catalogus (Lepidopterorum Catalogues New Series Fasc 118) Part 1 & 2)
Poole, R. W. 1989. CRC Press .
3.Pacific Northwest Moths
Contributed by Robin McLeod on 11 January, 2005 - 12:24pm
Additional contributions by Maury Heiman, marcie oconnor, Randy Hardy, Ken Childs, JoAnneRusso
Last updated 2 August, 2022 - 7:39am

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