Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

30 May 2003   10:01PM EDT  (left)
30 May 2003   10:14PM EDT  (right)

Elaphria festivoides, sometimes called the Festive Midget, is one of the smaller noctuids, with a wingspan of 2.4 to 2.8 cm (Covell, 1983).

The forewing of Elaphria festivoides is generally a warm brown with some gray mottling, paler in the costal third of the wing.  The basal area is a light grayish brown, with a clear antemedial line separating it from the median.  The lower 2/3 of the the median is darker brown, with a still darker medial line sometimes evident, and a blackish shade or dash between the orbicular and reniform spots.  The orbicular and reniform spots are whitish touched with light brown.  The reniform spot is sharply curved.  The subterminal area is marked with grayish white patches at the costa and at the inner margin just outside the postmedial line.  There is a tan patch at the apex.  The configuration of the reniform spot with the curved pm line, surrounding a dark brown to black spot, sometimes resembles a round "eye", usually more evident in somewhat worn specimens.

The larvae of Elaphria festivoides have been reared on Manitoba maple (Acer negundo) (Rockburne and Lafontaine, 1976).  Handfield (1999) reports a flight season for the adult moth in my general area between mid-May and mid-July.

I have photographed this species in 2000 on 5 July; in 2001 on 25 May; in 2002, on 28, 29 and 31 May, and on 9, 19 and 22 June; in 2003, on 30 May, and on 6, 7 and 17 June.