Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

19 June 2002   9:39PM EST  (top)
13 July 2002   11:13PM EST  (second from top)
3 July 2002   12:25AM EST  (third from top, left)
17 July 2001   10:34PM EST  (third from top, right)
15 July 2002   8:55PM EST  (bottom left)
18 July 2001   10:59PM  (bottom right)

For me, the warm chocolate brown color of Peridea ferruginea is probably the first clue to identifying this moth, also known as the Chocolate Prominent.  Except for color, its pattern has many similarities to that of Peridea angulosa (7920), with its double black zigzag antemedial and postmedial lines often accented with white.  In most of my photos, the reniform spot appears as a white lozenge shape in the medial area, sometimes with a darker center.  The medial area is generally paler and more gray in the area bounded by the antemedial line, costal and reniform spot.  Like a number of other Notodontids, Peridea ferruginea also has a black tuft projecting from the inner margin of the forewing, clearly visible in the first two photos above.  Its resting position is usually somewhat flattened with wings closed, or tented into a peaked roof shape.

The forward edge of the hindwing carries on the forewing pattern, although the remainder of the hindwing is mainly plain grayish to whitish.  In the bottom right photo above, the patterned edge can be seen projecting out from beneath the costal edge of the forewing.

The larva of this moth feeds on birches; Handfield (1999) also notes a record of sugar maple as host plant.  In my area generally, the adult moth may be seen from about mid-June to mid-August.

I have photographed this moth in 2001 on 17, 18 and 22 July; in 2002 on 19, 20 and 29 June, on 2, 3, 13 and 15 July, and on 5 August.