Moths of North Carolina
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View PDFNoctuidae Members:
Agnorisma Members:
199 NC Records

Agnorisma badinodis (Grote, 1874) - Pale-banded Dart Moth

Taxonomy
Superfamily: Noctuoidea Family: NoctuidaeSubfamily: NoctuinaeTribe: NoctuiniP3 Number: 933626.00 MONA Number: 10955.00
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Covell (1984; as Xestia badinodis); Beadle and Leckie (2012)Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLD                                                                                 
Adult Markings: The head, thorax, and ground of the forewings range in color from gray to light brown. The antemedian is pale with some dark shading on its medial side. In this species, the antemedian slants rearward from the costa down to a conspicuous black, wedge-shaped mark, forming an outward projection that typically touches the orbicular spot (Forbes, 1954; Lafontaine, 1998). In Agnorisma bollii, the antemedian runs more-or-less straight across from the costa to the inner margin and the orbicular spot is usually separated from it. The postmedian is similarly pale but runs across the wing in a smooth curve. In addition to these two lines, the most conspicuous marks are the black wedge adjacent to the orbicular and antemedian; a small black claviform spot; and a large squarish patch located between the orbicular and the reniform spots. In A. badinodis the large patch is concolorous with the subterminal area, with both usually brownish rather than black; in A. bollii these areas are typically black. In A. badinodis, the subterminal area is typically followed by a terminal area filled with the ground color; in A. bollii, the subterminal and terminal areas are similarly shaded with no clear separation between them. In both species, the orbicular and reniform spots are filled with the ground color and are often noticeable only by their broken white outlines. These are usually most strongly marked where they border the wedge-shaped and squarish dark patches.
Wingspan: 30-34 mm (Forbes, 1954)
Forewing Length: 16-20 mm (Lafontaine, 1998)
Adult Structural Features: The wings are usually broader in this species than in Agnorisma bugrai or A. bollii and the outer margin is more convex and the apex sharper (Forbes, 1954). The male antennae are pectinate in A. badinodis and A. bollii but serrate in A. bugrai. All three species can be distinguished based on male reproductive structures.
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.
Flight Dates:
 High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft.
 Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft.
 Piedmont (Pd)
 Coastal Plain (CP)

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