Hydraecia medialis

Hydraecia medialis
Male
Male
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Noctuidae
Genus:	Hydraecia
Species:	H. medialis
Binomial name
Hydraecia medialis (Smith, 1892)[1]
Synonyms
Hydroecia medialis Smith, 1892 Hydroecia pallescens Smith, 1899 Hydraecia pallescens

Hydraecia medialis is a moth in the Noctuidae family. It is found in western North America. East of the Cascades, it occurs as far north as the Cariboo region in south-central British Columbia. The range extends across the Rocky Mountains in Montana and then spreads north and south on the Great Plains to reach Alberta, the western Dakotas and northern New Mexico. The habitat consists of open ponderosa pine forests, drier sagebrush steppe and juniper woodlands.

The length of the forewings is 16–24 mm. Adults are pale gray-tan with a darker, often reddish, median area, a thick red-brown or brown and white postmedial line, and pale-filled spots. The hindwings are pale yellow-tan with variable gray suffusion. Adults are on wing from mid August to September.

The larvae probably bore into the stems and roots of Lupinus species.^[2]

References

1. Crabo, L.G. ; Davis, M. ; Hammond, P. ; Mustelin, T ; Shepard, J., 2013: Five new species and three new subspecies of Erebidae and Noctuidae (Insecta, Lepidoptera) from Northwestern North America, with notes on Chytolita Grote (Erebidae) and Hydraecia Guenée (Noctuidae). Zookeys 264: 85-123. Abstract and full article: doi:10.3897/zookeys.264.4304
2. Pacific Northwest Moths