Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

16 July 2003   11:07PM EST  (top left)
3 July 2003   9:18PM EST  (top right)
20 July 2005   9:24PM EST  (center left)
16 July 2004   9:47PM EST  (center right)
4 August 2005   10:10PM EST  (bottom)

Leucania commoides is one of eight species of Leucania recorded from the Ottawa area (J.D. Lafontaine, pers. comm., 2001). I loosely divide Leucania into two groups: streaky ones and non-streaky ones; within either group, it can be difficult to distinguish one species from another on the basis of a photograph alone.  Some are also easily confused with other streaky Hadeninae such as Mythimna oxygala (Hodges 10436).

Leucania commoides has a light yellowish beige forewing with brownish shading between pale veins.  The most prominent feature is the white line along the Cu vein midway down the wing, with a dark dot where the vein branches.  Above this vein, the upper half of the wing has a pale streak the length of the costa, with a streak of darker tan between that pale streak and the Cu vein.  Dark brown shading runs along the lower edge of the Cu vein.  In the lower half of the wing, the area adjacent to the inner margin is pale, but above the pale area there is some brown shading and two fairly sharp dark brown lines: one extending from the base of the wing a short distance outward, and another less distinct line in the outer third of the wing.  A shade line runs from the outer margin near the apex to the black dot where the Cu vein branches, with a slight interruption before it reaches the black dot.  The areas between veins tend to be somewhat more shaded in the outer third of the wing.  The usual lines are not evident, except for the postmedial line, which is indicated by a row of faint grayish to black dots; typically only two or three of these dots are easily discernible.

Covell (1984) points to the three fine gray lines across the collar (front of the thorax) as a key to distinguishing Leucania multilinea (Hodges 10447) from others.  However, from the photos at top right and center left, one can see that fine dark lines also cross the collar of Leucania commoides.  Leucania commoides, however, has the dark lines in the lower half of the wing that are absent in Leucania multilinea.  The hindwing of Leucania commoides is gray-beige, with some darker grayish shading along the outer margin.

According to Handfield (1999), the larvae of Leucania commoides have been reported to feed on orchard grass, and also on Glyceria maxima (manna grass) and Glyceria canadensis (rattlesnake grass). For my general area, he indicates an adult flight season from the earlier part of June nearly to mid-August.

My records to date for Leucania commoides (each date representing "the night of", and excluding those for which I am not confident of the identification) are in the table below: