Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

14 June 2002   10:01PM EST  (left)
28 June 2002   10:38PM EST  (right)

Furcula cinerea, also known as the Gray Furcula, is one of several species of Furcula that may occur in my area, and the only one of these with its own distinctive appearance unlike the others.  The forewing of Furcula cinerea is light gray overall, with most markings rather  indistinct, except for the terminal line represented by a row of black dots along the outer margin.  If you compare it with the high-contrast patterns of Furcula borealis (7936) and Furcula occidentalis (7939), both of which are illustrated on this web site, you see that Furcula cinerea carries ghostly imprints of their patterns of darker gray in the median and upper subterminal areas.  A close look also discovers tiny hints of orange along some of the edges of the darker gray areas.

The larvae of Furcula cinerea feed on willow, birch and poplar species.

I have photographed this species in 2002, on 14 and 28 June, on 13 July, and on 8 August.  This last date may be unusually late in my area, as Handfield (1999) gives the flight season for this species in my general area as the end of May through mid-July.