Archiearis infans – The Infant

Family Geometridae   Hodges # 6256

Caterpillar foods: birch, alder, (possibly poplar, willow); larvae that hatch before leaves are available in early spring, may feed on flower catkins (Bugguide)

Small day flying moths.  They are very common here on sunny days in the spring.  I usually see them fluttering around damp spots on the driveway.  They blend into the gravel so well that I’m always startled to see how many fly up as I walk along.  This was one of the first creatures I found when we came to look at the farm – before we bought it.  It was a sunny, warm day in March, and there were a hundred or so of these moths on the muddy farm road that ran though Center Valley.

3/20/2017

 

3/14/2021

 

4/8/2004

 

 

3/27/2008

 

4/5/2008 on the muddy driveway

 

This is the only time I’ve gotten a photo of the undersides of the wings – they’re much more orange than the tops – April 2008.

 

These two moths were on a birch twig on a cold morning.  3/30/2009

 

3/29/2009

 

3/22/2016

 

5/23/2021  Caterpillar on a birch leaf

 

6/4/2021  Pre-pupal caterpillar

 

6/12/2021  The caterpillars prefer to pupate inside a soft piece of wood.  I offered several choices but it didn’t like any of them so it pupated in the open in its jar, but the adult never emerged.

on bugguide