Moths of North Carolina
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View PDFNoctuidae Members: Spragueia Members: 47 NC Records

Spragueia onagrus (Guenée, 1852) - Black-dotted Spragueia

Spragueia onagrusSpragueia onagrusSpragueia onagrus
Taxonomy
Superfamily:
Noctuoidea		 Family:
Noctuidae		Subfamily:
Acontiinae		Tribe:
Acontiini		P3 Number:
931386		 MONA Number:
9126.00
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Covell (1984)Online Resources: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLD                                                                                 
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution:
County Map: Clicking on a county returns the records for the species in that county.
Spragueia onagrusAlamance Alexander Alleghany Anson Ashe Avery Beaufort Bertie Bladen Brunswick Buncombe Burke Cabarrus Caldwell Camden Carteret Caswell Catawba Chatham Cherokee Chowan Clay Cleveland Columbus Craven Cumberland Currituck Dare Davidson Davie Duplin Durham Edgecombe Forsyth Franklin Gaston Gates Graham Granville Greene Guilford Halifax Harnett Haywood Henderson Hertford Hoke Hyde Iredell Jackson Johnston Jones Lee Lenoir Lincoln Macon Madison Martin McDowell Mecklenburg Mitchell Montgomery Moore Nash New%20Hanover Northampton Onslow Orange Pamlico Pasquotank Pender Perquimans Person Pitt Polk Randolph Richmond Robeson Rockingham Rowan Rutherford Sampson Scotland Stanly Stokes Surry Swain Transylvania Tyrrell Union Vance Wake Warren Washington Watauga Wayne Wilkes Wilson Yadkin Yancey
Flight Dates:
 High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft.
 Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft.
 Piedmont (Pd)
 Coastal Plain (CP)

Click on graph to enlarge 		Image showing flight dates by month for High Mountains greater than 4,000 feet, Low Mountains, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain: adults.
Habitats and Life History
Habitats: Our records come mainly from two types of habitat: dune grasslands on barrier islands and Longleaf Pine savannas in the Outer Coastal Plain. While Coastal Plain Grasslands could fit, we provisionally place this species in the Groundsel-tree Thickets Habitat instead.
Larval Host Plants: Wagner et al. (2011) report finding large numbers of larvae on Annual Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia). Covell (1984) also listed Allegheny Chinquapin (Castanea pumila) and Corn (Zea mays) as host plants. Given the habitats used by this species in North Carolina, none of these species seem likely to be the main host plants used by this species. Robinson et al. (2010) additionally list Groundsel-tree (Baccharis halimifolia), which seems much more plausible, including in the few areas where this species has been found away from the Coast. We do not have any feeding records in North Carolina. - View
Wikipedia
See also Habitat Account for Groundsel-tree Thickets
Status in North Carolina
Natural Heritage Program Status:
Natural Heritage Program Ranks: G5 SNR [S3S4]
State Protection: Has no legal protection, although permits are required to collect it on state parks and other public lands.
Comments:

 Photo Gallery for Spragueia onagrus - Black-dotted Spragueia

Photos: 15
Spragueia onagrus
Recorded by: R. Newman on 2025-08-22
Carteret Co.
Comment: 		Spragueia onagrus
Recorded by: Dean Furbish and Joy Wiggins on 2025-04-27
Pender Co.
Comment:
Spragueia onagrus
Recorded by: Dean Furbish and Joy Wiggins on 2025-04-27
Pender Co.
Comment: 		Spragueia onagrus
Recorded by: Dean Furbish and Joy Wiggins on 2025-04-27
Pender Co.
Comment:
Spragueia onagrus
Recorded by: David George, Jeff Niznik, Rich Teper on 2023-05-21
New Hanover Co.
Comment: 		Spragueia onagrus
Recorded by: David George, Jeff Niznik, Rich Teper on 2023-05-21
New Hanover Co.
Comment:
Spragueia onagrus
Recorded by: R. Newman on 2022-09-24
Carteret Co.
Comment: 		Spragueia onagrus
Recorded by: R. Newman on 2022-06-06
Carteret Co.
Comment:
Spragueia onagrus
Recorded by: Dean Furbish and Joy Wiggins on 2022-05-05
Pender Co.
Comment: 		Spragueia onagrus
Recorded by: R. Newman on 2021-09-04
Carteret Co.
Comment:
Spragueia onagrus
Recorded by: Mark Basinger on 2021-06-01
Brunswick Co.
Comment: 		Spragueia onagrus
Recorded by: Mark Shields on 2020-07-03
Onslow Co.
Comment:
Spragueia onagrus
Recorded by: Mark Shields on 2019-06-10
Onslow Co.
Comment: 		Spragueia onagrus
Recorded by: Mark Shields on 2019-06-10
Onslow Co.
Comment:
Spragueia onagrus
Recorded by: Newman, Randy on 2005-07-21
Carteret Co.
Comment: