Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

31 May 2004   9:38PM EST  (top)
1 June 2005   11:36PM EST  (bottom)

Zale horrida, the so-called Horrid Zale, is one of a dozen species of Zale that have been recorded from the Ottawa area (J.D. Lafontaine, pers. comm., 2001), and it is a species quite commonly seen at my location.

The wings of Zale horrida are mainly black, with a lighter area along the outer margins.  For the most part, lines and markings in the black part of the forewing are best described as "darker black".  The top of the black wavy antemedial line is noticeable as a brown mark at the costa; occasionally the top of the black wavy basal line is similarly evident as a brown mark at the costa.  A black costal patch near the apex is bounded by a whitish double line on the inside, and by the light area along the outer margin, which is separated from the main black part of the wing by the undulating white to beige postmedial line.  The pale beige area is heavily speckled with brown dashes, which give it an appearance reminiscent of écru lace.  A similar pattern is present on the hindwing, except that the postmedial line forms a tidy series of scallops instead of the broad undulations of the forewing.  On both wings, the fringe is brown, with small scallops.  The brown ruff of the thorax is very noticeable in the lower photo.  Covell (1984) notes a wingspan from 3.5 to 4 cm for this species.

According to Handfield (1999), the host plant for Zale horrida is Viburnum lentago, also known as nannyberry, a shrub that is plentiful in my locality.  He indicates an adult flight season from the later part of May into early July for my general area.

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