Hodges # 8738

Caterpillar foods: clover, grasses, lupines  (Bugguide)

This species is often difficult to tell apart from Caenurgina erechtea but I’ve done my best with these photos.  The following characters can help to differentiate the two species  (from Jerry Fauske and Bugguide):

Caenurgina crassiuscula is very brown, with a brownish ground color.  It lacks white edging to the outer margin of the PM blotch-line.  Inner (basal) band touches inner margin.  Two dark bands nearly touch each other near the midline.

Caenurgina erechtea is mouse gray.   The two dark bands don’t tough near the midline, and the inner band (basal) doesn’t touch the inner margin.  On males the AM line inner boundary is curved outward well before the inner margin.  In C. crassiuscula it is pretty straight.