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Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada
9 May 2005 9:31PM EST (top)
15 May 2003 8:20PM EST (center left)
15 May 2003 11:23PM EST (center right)
9 June 2004 9:25PM EST (bottom) (form franclemonti)
Zale duplicata is one of a dozen species of Zale
that have been recorded from the Ottawa area (J.D. Lafontaine, pers. comm.,
2001). My thanks to Dr. J. Donald Lafontaine of Agriculture Canada for confirming my identification of
several specimens, and for determining the last specimen above as Zale
duplicata, form franclemonti.
Zale duplicata has a gray-brown forewing. The
basal area often has a noticeable blotch of warm medium brown near the
middle. The black antemedial line is well defined, with a small sharp
outward point shortly below the costa, and an inward bend above a short straight
section ending at the inner margin. Beyond the am line, there is usually a
band of much paler gray brown, with dark speckles, that contrasts sharply with
the rest of the forewing. Between an undulating dark median line and the
well-defined black postmedial line, the median is quite dark gray-brown, often
with reddish brown shading adjacent to the median line. In this darker
area, the black curve of the reniform spot is usually discernible, followed by a
patch of lighter brown that is often quite noticeable against the darker, grayer
background. The subterminal area is mottled gray and brown. The
hindwing is also gray-brown, somewhat paler than the forewing, with a sharp dark
brown to black postmedial line, sometimes followed at least partially with a
pale gray to whitish shade.
In the form franclemonti, Zale duplicata is much darker
overall, and more brown than gray, so that most of the usual marks and lines are
less obvious.
To me, Zale duplicata has some similarity in appearance
to Zale helata (Hodges 8704), and care should be taken with
identifications.
According to Handfield (1999), the larvae of Zale duplicata
feed primarily on white pine, but also on jackpine and tamarack. He indicates an adult flight season from
early May into the later part of June for my general area.
My records to date for Zale duplicata (each date
representing "the night of") are in the table below: | 
