Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

19 August 2006   11:55PM EST  (left and right)
Both photos are of the same specimen.

My thanks to Dr. Jean-François Landry of Agriculture Canada for identifying this specimen, which was collected and given to the Canadian National Collection in Ottawa.  Some additional information on Ecdytolopha insiticiana has been obtained from Internet resources and from Forbes, William T.M., The Lepidoptera of New York and Neighboring States, Primitive Forms, Microlepidoptera, Pyraloids, Bombyces (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University, 1923).

The basal half of the forewing of Ecdytolopha insiticiana is dark brownish-gray, heavily mottled with black.  The outer half of the wing is dirty white, with gray striae and mottling towards the costa, and a sharply defined triangular spot of black at the inner margin just before the anal angle.  At the inner margin, the boundary between the dark and light halves of the wing is quite sharp and straight.  Forbes (1923) indicates a wingspan of 25 mm.

According to Forbes (1923) and other sources, the larva of Ecdytolopha insiticiana, known as the Locust Twig Borer, forms galls on the twigs of black locust, a tree that is not native to my area, but which occurs in a small stand planted by a neighbor about 500 m distant.   Forbes (1923) indicates an adult flight season from May to August.

My only record to date for Ecdytolopha insiticiana (each date representing "the night of") is in the table below: