Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

28 April 2003   8:41PM EST  (top left)
16 April 2004   11:54PM EST  (top right)
18 April 2003   10:24PM EST  (second from top, left)
23 April 2004   10:38PM EST  (second from top, right)
8 May 2005   12:02AM EST  (third from top, left)
10 May 2005   10:11PM EST  (bottom)

Cladara atroliturata is one of two species of Cladara that I know to have been recorded in the Ottawa area (J.D. Lafontaine, pers. comm., 2001).  At my location, where the woods are dominated by deciduous trees with relatively few evergreens, this species is far more common than Cladara atroliturata (Hodges 7637).

Cladara atroliturata has a white forewing, cross-banded with soft green scalloped lines.  The resultant stripes of green and white are complemented by fine scalloped black cross-lines, in varying degrees of completeness.  Where these lines are incomplete, as in the top right photo, they are still evident from black marks at the veins.  The outer margin is edged in white, with small black marks at intervals, corresponding to dark gray stripes in the pale fringe.  The hindwing is very pale, with faint traces of gray lines.  Covell (1984) indicates a wingspan of 2.5 to 3.0 cm.

Handfield (1999) comments on a variant form in which the green bands on the forewing are replaced with brown, as in the second row right-hand photo.  This variation represents about 15% of my records to date.  What I had previously supposed to be another variation, in which much of the white on the forewing is replaced with light or dark gray, I have now identified as a very fresh specimen of Clarada anguilineata (Hodges 7638).

According to Handfield (1999), the larvae of Cladara atroliturata feed on alder, birch, willow and maple.  He indicates an adult flight season from before mid-April to mid-June for my general area.

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