Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

16 April 2004   11:06PM EST

My thanks to J.T. Troubridge of Agriculture Canada for his assistance with the identification of the specimen above.

Litholomia napaea has a light gray forewing with clear, distinctive markings.  The basal and antemedial lines are black, wavy and double.  In the median area, the orbicular spot is filled with pale gray, while the reniform spot is outlined in grayish white and filled with black, heaviest at the lower end.  A blackish median line is followed by a dark gray-brown shade.  The area between the clearly marked, black, slightly scalloped postmedial line and the less distinct subterminal line is also shaded with darker gray-brown.  The area between the subterminal line and the dark-brown-to-black terminal line is light gray.  In size, this species is comparable to Homoglaea hircina (9881), with a wingspan in the 3.0 to 3.5 cm range.

The larvae of Litholomia napaea feed on willow, white spruce, jackpine and balsam fir (Handfield, 1999).  According to Handfield, this species overwinters as an adult, with flight seasons in my general area from mid-Marchl to late May, and from late August to late October. 

I have recorded this species only once, in 2004 on 16 April.