Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

8 May 2003   9:31PM EST  (top left)
19 April 2003   6:18PM EST  (top right)
22 April 2003   (specimen captured 20 April 2003)  (bottom left)
10 May 2003   (specimen captured 8 May 2003)  (bottom right)

The photos at top left and bottom right are of the same specimen.  My thanks to Dr. J. Donald Lafontaine of Agriculture Canada for identifying the actual specimen pictured at bottom left, thereby enabling me to recognize the other specimens.  Since published photographs of many dark-colored moth species often do not show enough detail to enable a certain identification, and since my own photographs sometimes present the same problems, it has proven worthwhile in many situations to capture the moth for a closer examination and additional photographs.

Homoglaea hircina, also known as the Goat Sallow, is a very dark gray-brown in color.  Covell (1983) notes that it has a very hairy body, and this is evident in the photo at top right.  The antemedial and postmedial lines are double, filled with a paler gray-brown.  The reniform and orbicular spots are not always obvious, but may be at least partially outlined in the same pale gray-brown as the am and pm lines.  The medial line is indistinct, but a darker line across the median can be seen in the bottom right photo.  The subterminal line appears somewhat paler, marked by dark dots.  The hindwing is a lighter gray-brown than the forewing.

The larvae of Homoglaea hircina feed primarily on poplar.  According to Handfield (1999), this moth hibernates as an adult, with flight seasons in my general area from about mid-April to mid-May, and from late September to the beginning of November.

I have photographed this species in 2003, on 19 and 20(22) April, and on 8(10) May.