Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

19 June 2003   10:13PM EST

Hydrelia albifera, sometimes called the Fragile White Carpet, is one of a number of small white geometrid moths that can be all too easy to overlook, as evidenced by my experience with the specimen above.  Confronted with a splendidly marked, very fresh specimen of the noctuid Hypena abalienalis (Hodges 8445), I concentrated on getting the best possible photo for my web page, then later discovered that one of those photos also included Hydrelia albifera in one corner.  At the time of taking the photos, I didn't even notice this little white moth!  Since than I have tried to take a harder look at my less striking visitors, but have not yet seen another Hydrelia albifera even though it is supposedly a common species in my area.

Hydrelia albifera has white wings crossed by faint yellow-brown wavy lines, most of which are somewhat broken.  The lines are darkest at the costa.  The forewing has a clear black discal dot.  Head, thorax and abdomen are white, and Covell (1984) notes that there is a yellow bar on the upper half of the frons (the "face" below the antennae, in a view from the front), not visible in my photo.  The wingspan is 1.6 to 1.7 cm.

According to Handfield (1999), the larvae of Hydrelia albifera feed on several species of dogwood and also white birch. He indicates two generations per year for my general area, with adult flight seasons from late May to early July, and from about mid-July to late August.

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