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Field Guide Descriptions: | Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLD | Technical Description, Adults: Duckworth (1964) | Technical Description, Immature Stages: Marquis et al. (2019) | |
| Adult Markings: This is a boldly marked moth with black and lemon-yellow patterning on the basal third that is diagnostic. The following detailed description is based on that of Duckworth (1964). The face and labial palps are lemon yellow. The thorax is brown dorsally except for the lemon-yellow tegulae. The forewing is deep brown with a lemon-yellow triangular area that occupies the basal third except for a short costal lenticular spot and a longer, narrower spot along the posterior wing margin. Both spots are concolorous with the ground color. The apical two-thirds of the forewing has an inconspicuous area of white scales near the mid length of the costal margin, along with a similar, smaller area slightly more distad. There is a faint and somewhat iridescent light transverse band that parallels the distal margin of the yellow area and a small group of scales behind the basal white area. There is a short curved band extending from the distal white area and a submarginal longer straight, iridescent blue violet band parallel to the outer wing margin. The cilia are blackish brown. The hindwing is dark brown with a patch of white on the basal half of the anterior margin. The cilia are brown and edged in white. The legs are dark brown. The foreleg has the coxa entirely white and the tarsus ringed with white. The middle leg has two tibial rings and the tibial spurs and tarsal rings are white. The abdomen is brown with patches of white scales laterally. |
| Wingspan: 12-14 mm (Duckworth, 1964) |
| Adult Structural Features: Duckworth (1964) provides detailed descriptions and illustrations of the male and female genitalia. |
| Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens. |
| Immatures and Development: The larvae feed on oaks and have been reported to both tie overlapping leaves together and to fold over leaf lobes and attach them to the main portion of the leaf (Marquis et al., 2019). Overwintering is thought to occur in the pupal stage, with adults emerging the following spring. The head of the mature larva is light brown to light orange and the prothoracic and anal shields are either unpigmented, spotted, or solid brown to black. All thoracic segments are pigmented with reddish brown to orange and contrast withthe head. The abdomen is pale with irregular reddish spots in the subdorsal and lateral regions. Marquis et al. (2019) have detailed descriptions of the larvae and pupae. |
| Larvae ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos, especially where associated with known host plants. |