Obtuse Euchlaena Moth (NPS Catoctin Mountain Park Butterflies and Moths)

Obtuse Euchlaena Moth

Euchlaena obtusaria

Summary ¹¹

Euchlaena obtusaria, the Obtuse Euchlaena Moth, is a species of moth of the Geometridae family. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from Alberta east to Nova Scotia, south to Florida and Texas. The habitat consists of mixedwood forests.

Habitat ¹²

In Alberta, found only in mixedwood forest of the southern boreal region.

Life cycle ¹³

Up to 230 eggs are laid, hatching in only three to four days (McGuffin 1981). The larva is an excellent twig mimic, striped with pale and brown and bearing two short dorsal protuberances on the fifth abdominal segment (Wagner et al. 2001). The larva overwinters, likely in thew fifth instar (McGuffin 1981).

Taxonomy ¹⁴

Comments: The relationship of this species to E. muzaria is uncertain but that is generally treated as a northern and higher elevation replacement species. Some workers think there is a sibling species in coastal plain pine barrens, especially in New Jersey but probably to the south also, to which the name E. decissaria (Walker) has sometimes been applied. None of these uncertainties would affect the global rank for E. obtusaria. Records much north of about 40 degrees North (southern PA, central OH, central NJ) should be carefully evaluated for confusion with E. muzaria.

Sources and Credits

(c) Lee Elliott, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/lfelliott/16058222460/
(c) Nancy Magnusson, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), https://www.flickr.com/photos/34312269@N04/15456203677/
(c) Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/wildreturn/16058757126/
(c) Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/wildreturn/20473460180/
(c) cotinis, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/pcoin/5939172744/
(c) Bob Patterson, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/Files1/Live/BP/BP6726-060105.jpg
(c) Jim Vargo, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/Files1/JV/300/JV6726.jpg
(c) Greg Lasley, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Greg Lasley
(c) BIO Photography Group, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.boldsystems.org/archive/image.php?id=bold.org/14502
(c) BIO Photography Group, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.boldsystems.org/archive/image.php?id=bold.org/14503
(c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euchlaena_obtusaria
(c) University of Alberta Museums, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/31889589
(c) University of Alberta Museums, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/31889590
(c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/28800529

More Info

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