Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

24 June 2005   10:22PM EST

Hyperstrotia villificans is one of two species of Hyperstrotia known to occur in the Ottawa area (J.D. Lafontaine, pers. comm., 2001).  My thanks to Dr. J. Donald Lafontaine of Agriculture Canada for identifying the specimen illustrated above, which was collected and given to the Canadian National Collection in Ottawa.

The forewing of Hyperstrotia villificans has a grayish ground color heavily overlaid with darker gray-brown.  There are noticeably darker patches at the costa in the basal, medial and subterminal areas.  The antemedial and postmedial lines are fine and dark, with a narrow pale area along the edge away from the median.  The reniform spot is marked by a curved blackish line along its outer edge, with a dark dot attached at each end of this line, and the pm line angles sharply outward around the reniform spot.  The subterminal line is defined mainly by a whitish shade or line along its outer edge.  The terminal line is evident as a series of dark dashes preceding the gray-brown fringe.  In the median, there is a patch of darker scales, somewhat rough-looking, near the inner margin.  Hyperstrotia villificans is similar in size to H. pervertens (Hodges 9037), with a wingspan estimated at less than 1.9 cm.

According to Handfield (1999), the host plants for Hyperstrotia villificans are American elm and bur oak; Covell (1984), however, refers only to American elm. For my general area, Handfield indicates an adult flight season from the later part of June into the later part of July.

My only record to date for Hyperstrotia villificans (each date representing "the night of") is in the table below: