Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

9 April 2005   8:44PM EST  (top)
11 April 2005   (moth captured on 9 April 2005)  (bottom left)
9 April 2005   8:43PM EST  (bottom right)
All three photographs are of the same specimen, which was captured and given to the Canadian National Collection in Ottawa.

Several species of Xylena have been recorded from the Ottawa area (J.D. Lafontaine, pers.comm., 2001), only two of which occur commonly at my location (Hodges 9873 and 9874).  The other two possible species are fairly similar to each other in appearance, and I must thank J.T. Troubridge of Agriculture Canada for the identification.

Xylena thoracica, like the other Xylena species I've photographed, is a vigorous flyer, but the reddish brown streak in the outer third of the forewing, so noticeable in the bottom right photo, immediately flagged it as a species new to me.  Overall, the forewing is a fairly dark gray, shaded with reddish brown in the costal half, especially toward the apex.  The antemedial line is faintly present as a slightly paler double zigzag line.  As in X. nupera and X. curvimacula, there is a black blotch in the vicinity of the reniform spot.  Outside this blotch, there is a streak of reddish brown, the lower side of which is bordered by a black dash that stops short of the outer margin.  The thorax is gray-brown, with reddish brown at the front, and pale gray at either side.  The hindwing is a fairly dark gray-brown with a pale fringe.  Xylena thoracica appears a little smaller than X. curvimacula, and is definitely smaller than X. nupera.

The larvae of Xylena thoracica have been reported to feed on alder, buffaloberry, birch, poplar, willow and a variety of other trees and shrubs (Handfield, 1999).  This species seems generally to be associated with a more boreal habitat than my location.  It hibernates as an adult, and Handfield notes flight seasons from about mid-April to early June, and from the beginning of September into early October for my general area.

My sole record to date for Xylena thoracica (each date representing "the night of") is in the table below: