Moths of North Carolina
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Common Name:
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View PDFNoctuidae Members: Panthea Members: 105 NC Records

Panthea acronyctoides (Walker, 1861) - Black Zigzag Moth


Panthea acronyctoidesPanthea acronyctoidesPanthea acronyctoides
Taxonomy
Superfamily:
Noctuoidea
Family:
Noctuidae
Subfamily:
Pantheinae
P3 Number:
931398
MONA Number:
9177.00
Other Common Name:
Tufted Spruce Caterpillar
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Covell (1984); Beadle and Leckie (2012)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.
Panthea acronyctoidesAlamance 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: Almost all of our records come from cove forests and high elevation forests. Several also come from a site at the based of the Blue Ridge escarpment where both Hemlock and White Pine are present. A single individual has been collected further west in the Piedmont but does not appear to represent a resident population.
Larval Host Plants: Larvae feed on several genera of conifers, including spruce (Picea), fir (Abies), hemlock (Tsuga), and pine (Pinus) (Wagner et al., 2011). - View
Wikipedia
See also Habitat Account for Montane Cool Mesic Conifer Forests
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 Panthea acronyctoides - Black Zigzag Moth

75 photos are available. Only the most recent 30 are shown.
Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2025-09-10
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Owen Carson on 2025-08-26
Transylvania Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Owen Carson on 2025-08-26
Transylvania Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2024-08-25
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2024-08-22
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2024-08-19
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2024-08-07
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: John Petranka on 2024-07-11
Watauga Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2024-07-10
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2024-07-07
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2024-06-13
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2024-05-24
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2024-05-02
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Emily Stanley on 2024-04-20
Buncombe Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2024-04-15
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2023-08-30
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2023-08-18
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2023-08-05
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2023-07-31
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2023-07-11
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka and Becky Elkin on 2023-06-24
Buncombe Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2023-06-06
Madison Co.
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Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2023-06-02
Madison Co.
Comment:
Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2023-05-09
Madison Co.
Comment:
Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2022-09-07
Madison Co.
Comment:
Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2022-08-05
Madison Co.
Comment:
Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2022-07-29
Madison Co.
Comment:
Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2022-07-22
Madison Co.
Comment:
Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2022-07-09
Madison Co.
Comment:
Panthea acronyctoides
Recorded by: Richard Teper on 2022-06-26
Avery Co.
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