Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

28 March 2005   9:52PM EST  (top)
30 March 2005 (specimen captured 30 March 2005)  (center)
1 April 2005 (specimen captured 30 March 2005)  (bottom)

Lithophane grotei is one of over 20 species of Lithophane that have been recorded from the Ottawa area (J.D. Lafontaine, pers.comm., 2001), and probably the one most common at my location. My thanks to Dr. J. D. Lafontaine of Agriculture Canada for identifying first two specimens above, and for helping me to learn how to distinguish L. grotei from other similar species that occur locally.

Lithophane baileyi has a dark gray forewing, with black am and pm lines that are usually, in my experience, indistinct.  Covell (1983) refers to a short black basal dash, edged with white above, but in the specimens identified from my location, this mark is seldom clear, represented most often by a pale gray smudge.  The orbicular spot has a whitish outline, and is filled with pale to darker gray; the three specimens above show a range of fill colors.  At the lower end of the orbicular spot, the partial outline of another circle can often be observed.  The reniform spot is much less noticeable, with a fainter outline and dark gray filling.  The subterminal line is usually somewhat visible as an irregular blackish smudge of a line with slightly lighter gray on either side of it.  The hindwing is dark grayish brown.  Covell (1983) indicates a wingspan of 4.2 to 5.0 cm for this species.

The larvae of Lithophane grotei feed on maple, birch and apple, sometimes chokecherry, according to Handfield (1999); Covell lists pin oak, chokecherry and other trees.  Handfield indicates this species overwinters as an adult, with flight seasons in my general area from mid-March nearly to mid-June, and from early September to the end of November. 

I have recorded this species in 2002 on 11 April; in 2003, on 27 March; in 2004, on 11, 25 and 30 March, and on 7 and 18 April; in 2005, on 27, 28, 29 and 30 March.