Sambucus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly called elder or elderberry. The genus was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but was reclassified as Adoxaceae due to genetic and morphological comparisons to plants in the genus Adoxa.
The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the other families of the Noctuoidea. It was considered the largest family in Lepidoptera for a long time, but after regrouping Lymantriinae, Catocalinae and Calpinae within the family Erebidae, the latter holds this title now. Currently, Noctuidae is the second largest family in Noctuoidea, with about 1,089 genera and 11,772 species. However, this classification is still contingent, as more changes continue to appear between Noctuidae and Erebidae.
Prunus virginiana, commonly called bitter-berry, chokecherry, Virginia bird cherry, and western chokecherry, is a species of bird cherry native to North America. The natural historic range of P. virginiana includes most of Canada, most of the United States, and northern Mexico.
The flannel moths or crinkled flannel moths are a family of insects. They occur in North America and the New World tropics. The larvae are called puss caterpillars, and with their long hairs, resemble cotton balls. They have venomous spines that can cause a painful sting and inflammation lasting for several days. In some cases, the sting may cause headache, nausea, and shock-like symptoms. Perhaps the most notorious for stinging is the caterpillar of Megalopyge opercularis.
The common emerald is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species is found throughout the Nearctic and Palearctic regions and the Near East. It is mostly commonly found in the southern half of the British Isles. It was accidentally introduced into southern British Columbia in 1973.
The small dusty wave is a moth of the family Geometridae first described by Franz von Paula Schrank in 1802. It is found throughout Western, Central and Northern Europe. In the north, its range extends as far as Denmark and southern Scandinavia. In the east its range extends as far as Russia. Idaea seriata is replaced by the subspecies Idaea seriata canteneraria, from the north-east of Spain and the central and eastern Mediterranean to the Crimean peninsula, while the western Mediterranean and the Balearic Islands are inhabited by the sister species Idaea minuscularia. Outside Europe it is found in eastern Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, Cyprus, the Caucasus and the northwest of Transcaucasia. In Morocco and western Algeria, it is replaced by the sister species Idaea minuscularia. In the British Isles it is common in England and Wales but is only found in the eastern half of Scotland and it is rare in Ireland.
The winter moth is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is an abundant species of Europe and the Near East and a famous study organism for evaluating insect population dynamics. It is one of very few lepidopterans of temperate regions in which adults are active in late fall and early winter. The adults use endothermy for movement in these cold temperatures. The female of this species is virtually wingless and cannot fly, but the male is fully winged and flies strongly. After the initial frosts of late fall, the females emerge from their pupa, walk to and up trees, there emitting pheromones in the evening to attract males. Fertilized, she ascends to lay, on average, around 100 eggs. Typically, the larger the female moth is the more eggs she lays.
The engrailed and small engrailed are moths of the family Geometridae found from the British Isles through central and eastern Europe to the Russian Far East and Kazakhstan. The western Mediterranean and Asia Minor and the Caucasus represent the southern limit of the distribution. In the north, the distribution area ends at the Arctic Circle. It also occurs in North America. Debate exists as to whether they make up one species, or whether E. crepuscularia actually refers only to the small engrailed, with the engrailed proper being separable as E. bistortata.
Pterophorus pentadactyla, commonly known as the white plume moth, is a moth in the family Pterophoridae. It is found in the West Palearctic including North Africa and Europe. The wingspan is 26–34 mm (1.0–1.3 in). It is uniformly white, with the hind wing pair divided in three feathery plumes and the front pair in another two. The moths fly from June to August. The larvae feed on bindweed.
The mouse moth is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is a widespread species with a Holarctic distribution.
Agrius convolvuli, the convolvulus hawk-moth, is a large hawk-moth. It is common throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand, partly as a migrant. In New Zealand, it is also known in the Māori language as hīhue.
Schinia, commonly called flower moths, is a large genus of moths belonging to the family Noctuidae. The genus has a Holarctic distribution with the vast majority of species being found in North America, many with a very restricted range and larval food plant.
The Peterson Field Guides (PFG) are a popular and influential series of American field guides intended to assist the layman in identification of birds, plants, insects and other natural phenomena. The series was created and edited by renowned ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson (1908–1996). His inaugural volume was the classic 1934 book A Field Guide to the Birds, published by the Houghton Mifflin Company.
Ematurga atomaria, the common heath, is a moth of the family Geometridae.
Cymatophora is a genus of moths in the family Geometridae erected by Jacob Hübner in 1812. It is monotypic, being represented by the single species, the giant gray moth. It is found mostly in the south-eastern United States. It is found in North America.
Chrysodeixis includens, the soybean looper, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is known as falso medidor in north-eastern Mexico. It is found from southern Quebec and southern Ontario through the eastern and southern part of the United States to Central America and South America, the Antilles and the Galápagos Islands. It is known to be migratory. The species was first described by Francis Walker in 1858.
Megalopyge crispata, the black-waved flannel moth, crinkled flannel moth or white flannel moth, is a moth of the Megalopygidae family. It is found along the east coast of the United States, and as far inland as Oklahoma.
Vitula edmandsii, the American wax moth, dried-fruit moth or dried fruit moth, is a species of snout moth in the genus Vitula. It shares its common name with Cadra calidella, another dried fruit moth. It was described by Packard in 1865. It is found in Germany, Denmark and Fennoscandia, as well Great Britain and eastern North America. The beehive honey moth, which is found in western North America, is either treated as a full species or as a subspecies of Vitula edmandsii.
Packardia elegans, the elegant tailed slug moth, is a species of moth in the family Limacodidae. It is found in Canada and the United States, where it has been recorded from woodlands and forests, ranging from north-eastern Missouri to Quebec and Maine, south to north-eastern Georgia.
A MONA number, or Hodges number after Ronald W. Hodges, is part of a numbering system for North American moths found north of Mexico in the Continental United States and Canada, as well as the island of Greenland. Introduced in 1983 by Hodges through the publication of Check List of the Lepidoptera of America North of Mexico, the system began an ongoing numeration process in order to compile a list of the over 12,000 moths of North America north of Mexico. The system numbers moths within the same family close together for identification purposes. For example, the species Epimartyria auricrinella begins the numbering system at 0001 while Epimartyria pardella is numbered 0002.
