Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

22 June 2003   11:21PM EST  (top)
30 June 2004   10:54PM EST  (center)
13 July 2004   10:08PM EST  (bottom)

My thanks to Dr. J. Donald Lafontaine of Agriculture Canada for identifying the specimen in the top photograph, which was not the first Pasiphila rectangulata I encountered, but was the first I had the opportunity to capture for a firm identification.  Once I knew what I was looking for, I was able to label several photos of this species from previous years' files of unidentified moths.

Pasiphila rectangulata, formerly called Chloroclystis rectangulata, appears to have been introduced to northeastern North America from Europe around 1970 (Handfield, 1999), and has expanded its range westward at least into Ontario.

When fresh, Pasiphila rectangulata is a rich olive green in color (center photo), but exposure to humidity over time affects the pigmentation (as it does with many other green moths), and the green color changes to a yellowish brown, as in the bottom photograph.  The actual ground color is dark brown, with the typical Larentiinae pattern of multiple wavy or scalloped lines across the forewing and, in this species, extending onto the hindwing.  The median is slightly darker and more brownish, demarcated on either side by wavy double lines of green.  The subterminal area has a scalloped single line of green.  A green streak connects the double pm line and the subterminal line near the apex.  Head, thorax and abdomen are mostly green.  

According to Handfield (1999), in Europe the larvae of Pasiphila rectangulata feed mainly on the flower buds and flowers of the common apple, blackthorn or sloe, and hawthorn; similar species of apple, plum or cherry, and hawthorn have been suggested as likely hosts in North America.  Handfield indicates an adult flight season from late June to late July for my general area.

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