Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

5 August 2000   11:21PM  (top left)

6 August 2000   12:07AM  (top center)

6 July 2002   12:35AM  (top right)

13 July 2002   10:01PM  (center left)

14 July 2002   12:56AM  (center center)

14 July 2002   12:58AM  (center right)

14 July 2002   11:30PM  (bottom left)

21 July 2002   10:17PM  (bottom center)

30 July 2002   9:15PM  (bottom right)

The photos from 5-6 August 2000 are of the same individual.  This species also photographed on 6, 15 and 17 July 2002.  This species was posted as Mystery Moth 3 in April 2002, after I had unsuccessfully searched for its identity.  It was quickly suggested by Dr. A.W. Thomas, formerly of Natural Resources Canada, that it was not, as I had originally wondered, a noctuid, but rather belonged to one of the "micro" families.  Larry Line of Maryland was unable to identify it, but provided photographs of a similar unknown for comparison.  When, in July 2002, I began photographing specimens that appeared similar to Isa textula, I did not immediately relate these to Mystery Moth 3, but after looking at Larry Line's photographs, began to wonder about the possibility that all of these were Isa textula on the basis of illustrations in Handfield and Covell.  One of the difficulties has been that the moth is difficult to photograph without shine on its wings, that sometimes gives a grainy appearance, and sometimes affects a whole area of the wing that happens to be at a different angle to the light of the flash.  To the best of my knowledge, Isa textula had not previously been observed in the Ottawa area; moreover, Handfield reported it as a rare occurrence in his Region 1 of Quebec, from 12 June to 15 July, whereas my first observation was from August.  Finally, Scott Griggs of Vermont independently offered the suggestion of Isa textula, from his experience with Vermont moths.  A week later, my photographs of 30 July 2002 seemed to bridge the visual gap between the 2002 photographs of this species and the original photos from 2000.  My sincere thanks to all those who contributed to this identification.