Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

30 July 2003   10:06PM EST

Euxoa redimicula, also known as the Fillet Dart, is one of about 20 Euxoa species recorded from the Ottawa area (J. D. Lafontaine, pers. comm., 2001), of which I have photographed only four at my location to date. My thanks to Dr. J. Donald Lafontaine of Agriculture Canada for confirming my identification of the specimen illustrated above.

Euxoa redimicula has a bluish gray forewing, marked and shaded with gray, brown and black.  In the basal area, there is a fairly broad black dash.  A light gray streak near the costa, palest in the basal area, reminds me of the appearance of slightly tarnished silver.  This streak seems to merge into the rounded light gray orbicular spot to form an inverted comma shape against the dark shade below.  The reniform spot is light brownish gray with a slightly paler rim inside its black outline.  The area immediately between the orbicular and reniform spots is black.  The lower half of the basal and medial areas is shaded slightly with brown.  The postmedial and subterminal lines are somewhat indistinct, light gray in color, with a dark gray bar immediately preceding the st line at the costa.  The area between the st line and the terminal line is dark gray.  The hindwing is whitish with some gray-brown shading along the outer margin, and a pale fringe.  Covell (1984) indicates a wingspan of 3.0 to 3.5 cm for this species.

Handfield (1999) notes that Euxoa redimicula is similar in appearance to Euxoa servita (not yet recorded at my location); identifications based on photographs alone should therefore be made with caution.

According to Handfield (1999), the host plant for Euxoa redimicula is unknown, but Covell (1984) states the larvae feed on blueberries. Handfield indicates an adult flight season from early August into early September for my general area.

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