Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

14 April 2005   6:52PM EST  (top left)
20 April 2004   9:47PM EST  (top right)
29 April 2004   7:11PM EST  (second row left)
5 May 2005   10:05PM EST  (second row right)
29 April 2004   7:09PM EST  (third row left)
16 April 2004   8:40PM EST  (third row right)
12 April 2004   10:29PM EST  (bottom left)
12 April 2004   10:47PM EST  (bottom right)

Orthosia hibisci is one of five species of Orthosia that have been recorded from the Ottawa area (J.D. Lafontaine, pers. comm., 2001), all of which are illustrated on this website.  Several of these species, and especially Orthosia hibisci, are quite variable in appearance, an issue complicated by the frequent occurrence of worn specimens and the propensity of the forewing color and pattern to be obscured by reflections from flash photography. My thanks to Dr. J. Donald Lafontaine and Mr. J.T. Troubridge of Agriculture Canada for their patience and forbearance in identifying a number of specimens that I found confusing.

Orthosia hibisci has a grayish brown forewing with, according to Covell (1984), very little reddish tinting.  Overall, the forewing often has a very mottled appearance.  There is considerable variation in the distinctness of the antemedial and postmedial lines, which may be very obscure as in the top photos, or very strongly marked as in the right-hand photo in the third row.  There is somewhat more consistency in the marking of the orbicular and reniform spots, which have pale outlines filled with the darker ground color, and with near-black filling in the lower half of the reniform spot.  A reddish medial band crosses the wing between the orbicular and reniform spots. The pale tan subterminal line is usually shows some patches of reddish brown edging along its inner side.  The hindwing is grayish brown with a pale fringe.  Covell (1984) indicates a wingspan for this species ranging from 3.2 to 4.2 cm. 

According to Handfield (1999), the larva of Orthosia hibisci, also known as the Speckled Green Fruitworm, has been reported to feed on a very wide variety of trees and shrubs, including poplar, willow, birch, spruce, alder, maple, elm, cherry, oak, pine, hickory and many others.  For my general area, he indicates an adult flight season from early April nearly to the end of June.

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