Hodges # 11147
Caterpillar foods: Marshelder (Iva spp.) and possibly False Boneset (Brickellia eupatorioides) (Bugguide)
We have lots of False Boneset, but no Marshelder as far as I know – although it is native to Wisconsin.
I posted these photos to one of the facebook groups for another opinion, since there are no other records of this species this far north. The closest record on MPG is in central Iowa.
Hugh McGuinness says: “It does not look like the gracilenta we get on the East Coast, which is a salt marsh specialist….It may be gracilenta, it just looks quite different from the east coast gracilenta. And then again there may be two taxa lurking under the same name. We’ll find out when the MONA fascicle on Heliothines is published.”
Mark Dreiling sent a link to the BOLD BIN (Barcode Index Number), and the comment that: “I sent a lot of them in since they varied so much in shading and in color – from almost yellow to an olive tint. They all matched. The PDF tree here shows a bit of difference for the eastern moths – with a couple of OK specimens mixed in.”
According to Les Ferge, this is a new record for Wisconsin.
8/25/2012
8/25/2012
