Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

15 May 2003   8:34PM EST  (top left)
17 May 2004   9:19PM EST  (top right)
17 June 2003   10:31PM EST  (bottom left)
23 May 2003   9:26PM EST  (bottom right)

Lobophora nivigerata is a moth that always looks somewhat worn to what I can only describe as half-melted!  Its forewing is a very pale powdery gray, with very diffuse darker gray markings.  Pale double lines, slightly scalloped, and sometimes tinged with a very faint orange-yellow color (most evident in the bottom two photos), cross the wing in the basal area, and on either side of the median.  The central part of the basal area is darker gray.  The discal spot is fairly consistently evident as a dark oblong smudge.  Along the costa, there is usually a gray smudge preceding the outermust double line, and another gray smudge adjacent to the apex, comparable to the apical patches of some other members of the Larentiinae (for example, Xanthorhoe, Epirrhoe and Euphyia species); overall, however, Lobophora nivigerata displays a rather ghostly version of the characteristic "carpet moth" markings common to a number of Larentiinae.  The hindwing is white with a tiny black discal dot and very faint median line.  Covell (1984) indicates a wingspan from 2.1 to 2.5 cm for this species.

According to Handfield (1999), the usual host plant for Lobophora nivigerata is poplar, but the larvae also feed on other trees such as willow, alder, birch and tamarack (larch). He indicates an adult flight season from early May to mid-August for my general area.

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