Variegated Snout Moth, Mottled Bomolocha

Uncommon and local in Alberta, but no obvious reasons for concern.

Adults are on the wing in Alberta through much of June and July.

Nova Scotia west across southern Canada to British Columbia, south to Alabama and Texas. In Alberta, it has been collected only in the southern Boreal forest in the Edmonton region.

A medium-size (2.7-3.3 cm wingspan) broad-winged moth. The males and females are dimorphic, but not to the extent of B. bijugalis. Both of the sexes can be rather variable in appearance. The male is darker than the female, with most of the forewings a dark brown, somewhat paler in the postmedian area. The erratic antemedian and postmedian lines are narrow and marked with light scales, and the subterminal line is a series of indistinct spots. The orbicular is a black point, the reniform a small black bar, and there is a dark, broken apical dash. The terminal area is also dark, and the fringe is moderately checkered. The hindwings are dark sooty brown. The female is usually a bit smaller, with much greater contrast between the dark basal half and light outer half of the forewings, but otherwise with the same pattern as the male. The hindwings are lighter brown. The antennae in both sexes simple. Overall, B. palparia is much more mottled and less cleanly contrasting than B. bijugalis.

Mature mixedwood forest.

Adults are nocturnal and come to lights. The larvae are apparently solitary defoliators, and have been collected between late July and early September (in eastern Canada).

No Alberta data. Elsewhere in Canada reported from Hazel (Corylus) and Ironwood (Ostrya).

Bomolocha palparia là một loài bướm đêm trong họ Noctuidae.