Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

22 June 2003   9:47PM EST  (top)
27 June 2004   10:33PM EST  (bottom left)
1 July 2004   10:51PM EST  (bottom right)

Dysstroma hersiliata is one of three species of Dysstroma that have been recorded in the Ottawa area (J. D. Lafontaine, pers. comm., 2001), and the only one I have observed to date.

The forewing of Dysstroma hersiliata is generally gray, with a white-rimmed band of orange to rust crossing the wing in the antemedial area.  The median is gray in most specimens, but a few have significant areas of rust-brown in the median instead, as in the bottom left photo.  The whitish postmedial line is sharply scalloped, with a sharp tooth extending inward into the median about a third of the way down the wing.  Below this tooth, there is an extra-deep outward scallop.  The area immediately following the pm line is usually orange to rust near the costa, and may have a moderate amount of orange or rust-brown color in the rest of the space between the pm line and the whitish scalloped subterminal line.  The area outside the st line is gray, and usually somewhat paler than the gray of the median.  The hindwing is light and grayish.  Covell (1984) indicates a wingspan from 2.5 to 2.9 cm for this species.

According to Handfield (1999), the larvae of Dysstroma hersiliata feed on Ribes species (wild currants and gooseberries). He indicates an adult flight season from about mid-June to the end of July for my general area.

My records to date for Dysstroma hersiliata (each date representing "the night of") are in the table below: