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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths (Geometroidea) » Geometrid Moths (Geometridae) » Ennominae » Melanolophiini » Melanolophia » Canadian Melanolophia - Hodges#6620 (Melanolophia canadaria)

Species Melanolophia canadaria - Canadian Melanolophia - Hodges#6620

Classification · Hodges Number · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Size · Identification · Range · Food · Life Cycle · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
Gray sp.? - Melanolophia canadaria Melanolophia canadaria Melanolophia? - Melanolophia canadaria Ectropis crepuscularia ? - Melanolophia canadaria Moth 3 - Melanolophia canadaria - male ? Melanolophia canadaria - Canadian Melanolophia - Hodges#6620 - Melanolophia canadaria may be Melanolophia canadaria - Melanolophia canadaria - male Canadian Melanolophia - Hodges#6620 - Dorsal - Melanolophia canadaria
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 Ennominae
Tribe Melanolophiini
Genus Melanolophia
Species canadaria (Canadian Melanolophia - Hodges#6620)
Hodges Number
6620
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Melanolophia canadaria (Guenée, [1858])
Tephrosia canadaria Guenée, 1857
Synonym
Melanolophia carbonata Cassino & Swett, 1923
Size
Wingspan 30-36 mm.
Identification
Forewing mottled brown or grayish, crossed by 3 or 4 wavy lines (the postmedial - PM - line is the most prominent of these lines, distinctly denticulate, and often the only one to cross the wing without fading); a dark blotch where the PM line meets the inner margin usually contains a curved whitish "V" reminiscent of a "flying seagull" - a good field mark when present.
Genitalia:
Range
Florida to Nova Scotia, west to Saskatchewan, south to Texas.
Food
Larvae feed on leaves of birch, cherry, elm, maple, oak, pine.
Life Cycle
Two generations per year.
Overwinters in the larval stage in the ground.(1)
Larva, larva, pupa, adult female:
See Also
Melanolophia signataria is extremely similar, but usually has more uniformly-colored wings (less mottling), and more objectively, typically has a more sinuous (somewhat "straighter") PM line, whereas canadaria usually has a noticeably denticulate PM line. Poorly-marked individuals may be difficult to distinguish.
Print References
Covell Jr, C.V., 1984. Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America. Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 355, plate 52 #3. (2)
Wagner, D.L., Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History. Princeton University Press. p. 159. (3)
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group (4)
Moth Guide.com
Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility (CBIF)
Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) (5)
The Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) (6)
live adult images (Larry Line)
pinned adult images (Dalton State College, Georgia)
live larva image plus description and other info (Caterpillars of Eastern Forests, USGS)
Works Cited
1.Eastern Forest Insects
Whiteford L. Baker. 1972. U.S. Department of Agriculture · Forest Service.
2.Peterson Field Guides: Eastern Moths
Charles V. Covell. 1984. Houghton Mifflin Company.
3.Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History (Princeton Field Guides)
David L. Wagner. 2010. Princeton University Press, 1-496.
4.North American Moth Photographers Group
5.Butterflies of North America
6.BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data Systems
Contributed by Robin McLeod on 11 January, 2005 - 11:13pm
Additional contributions by Mike Boone, cotinis, Tony-2, Jason D. Roberts, Maury Heiman, marcie oconnor, Marci Hess, JoAnneRusso, Robert H. Biagi
Last updated 22 August, 2023 - 1:40pm

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