Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

8 September 2005   11:30PM EST  (top left)
14/15 September 2005   (date of moth capture)  (top right)
10 September 2005   11:14PM EST  (bottom left)
09 October 2003   9:48PM EST  (bottom right)

Sunira bicolorago, also called the Bicolored Sallow, has a yellow forewing, varying from quite a pale straw-yellow to a deep orange-yellow color.  The brown antemedial line is broadly scalloped and usually visible.  A brownish basal line is sometimes evident.  The postmedial line is usually intermittent and less obvious.  A darker orange to brown shade forms a band across the median.  The orbicular spot is outlined in brown and filled with the ground color of the wing.  The reniform spot, however, is filled with near-black in its lower half.  The irregular yellow subterminal line is accentuated by a purplish brown shade along its inner edge.  In some specimens, the outer half of the wing is shaded with purplish brown, as in the specimen at top right above.  The hindwing is pale yellow, shaded with grayish brown, heaviest in the lower half of the wing.  Covell (1984) indicates a wingspan from 2.8 to 3.8 cm for this species.

Sunira bicolorago, because of its color and median band, bears a superficial resemblance to Anathix ralla (Hodges 9961), but can easily be distinguished by its scalloped antemedial line, the black filling in the lower half of the reniform spot, and the absence of a row of conspicuous black dots in the subterminal area. 

According to Handfield (1999), the larvae of Sunira bicolorago have been reported to feed on elm, maple, poplar and willow, tobacco and other hosts. For my general area, he indicates an adult flight season from the later part of August into early November.

My records to date for Sunira bicolorago (each date representing "the night of") are in the table below: