Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

16 July 2004   8:32PM EST  (top left)
31 July 2005   9:58PM EST  (top right)
5 July 2005   9:15PM EST  (bottom left)
18 August 2005   9:10PM EST  (bottom center)
6 August 2005   9:08PM EST  (bottom right)

Lacinipolia renigera is one of seven species of Lacinipolia that have been recorded from the Ottawa area (J.D. Lafontaine, pers. comm., 2001), of which six are illustrated on this website.

Lacinipolia renigera has a brown forewing with a slight purplish cast in some lights, and with distinctive black, white and green markings.  A green streak in the lower half of the wing precedes the double antemedial line, which is followed at the same place by a solid black claviform spot.  In the median, the orbicular spot appears as a lighter brown spot with a hint of whitish edging around it.  The reniform spot is clearly outlined in white, with green filling; at its lower end, the white outline is thicker and often somewhat angular as in the two photos at right.  A blackish streak extends from the orbicular spot behind the reniform spot to the postmedial line.  The area between the postmedial line and the whitish subterminal line is lighter brown in color, with green adjacent to the inner margin near the anal angle.  The terminal area is darker brown.  The hindwing is whitish with dark brown shading along the outer margin, increasing toward the apex.  Covell (1984) indicates a wingspan from 2.1 to 3.0 cm for this species.

According to Handfield (1999), larvae of Lacinipolia renigera, also known as the Bristly Cutworm, have been reported to feed on a wide variety of wild and cultivated herbaceous plants, including apple, cabbage, clover, corn, tobacco, dandelion, plantain, grape and many others. He indicates an adult flight season from mid-June to the end of August for my general area, in light of which two October 2005 records at my location are somewhat unusual, possibly a result of unusual weather patterns in 2005.

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