Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

13 May 2004   12:12AM EST

Acasis viridata is a very attractive small geometrid moth when fresh, but its olive green color fades to yellow or brown.  The forewing is grayish, banded across with whitish double antemedial and postmedial lines.  Overlying the ground color and the lines, there are lengthwise streaks of fairly bright olive green, especially strong near the costa, and in the outer half of the middle of the wing.  The thorax is also green, but the abdomen is gray.  The terminal line consists of a series of bold white dashes punctuated with dark gray dots.  The fringe is alternating dark and light gray.  The hindwing is grayish and relatively plain.  Covell (1984) indicates a wingspan of 1.8 to 2.0 cm.

According to Handfield (1999), the larvae of Acasis viridata feed on the flower-heads of Viburnum cassinoides (wild raisin or withe rod). He indicates an adult flight season from very early May nearly to mid-June for my general area.

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