#cladara

Bug of the Day

Bug of the Day

Bug of the Day

I was out in my woods last week collecting mosses and liverworts (part of a many years-long floristic inventory project, more on that in future posts) and came across this moth that resembles a lichen. The moth is Cladara atroliturata (scribbler moth) and in spite of its lichen patterns the larvae feed on the leaves of alders, maples, aspen, and birches.

The crisp black and green zig-zag bands that go across the 2.5 to 3 cm wings are diagnostic features for this species. This scribbler moth has black bands alternating the green (”mint green”) bands on its wings, but there is a rare gray-banded morph, too. Two other species in the genus, Cladara limitaria and Cladara anguilineata, also have zig-zag patterning. They differ from Cladara atroliturata by having gray and brown wings with little or no green coloration and fragmented zig-zag bands.

Cladara are in the insect family Geometridae (inchworm moths). The caterpillars of Cladara atroliturata are green with thin yellowish lines separating the segments of the body. They are smooth except for a few scattered short hairs. Food plants are alders, maples, aspen, and birches and the larvae are active in the spring and summer. There is one brood per year and the moth overwinters as a pupa emerging in adult form in the spring.

Cladara atroliturata is a common moth species found over much of the eastern US and Canada.

References

Bug Guide web site

Moths and Caterpillars of the North Woods. Jim Sogaard (2009). Kollath + Stensaas Publishers, Duluth, MN