A neighborly moth

Genus overview

Haploa is a genus of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea, family Erebidae, subfamily Arctiinae (Tiger and Lichen Moths). The genus comprises six species in North America north of Mexico and is not known from anywhere else. Four species are known from Minnesota: Haploa contigua, Haploa lecontei, Haploa reversa, and Haploa confusa.

So that’s the easy part. When I look over my photos of Haploa species, I am struck by the way Haploa lecontei, Haploa reversa, and Haploa confusa seem to grade into one another. Why? Maybe because I am misidentifying them. Or maybe because these are just photos of one species and its range of variation. Which species? I’m not sure anymore, but it might be Haploa confusa. The one I am sure of is Haploa contigua.

Haploa contigua

Haploa contigua is one of four species of Haploa with all white hindwings. The base color of the forewings is cream-colored to white. The costa and inner margins are bordered in dark brown. A diagonal dark brown line extends from the costa beyond the midpoint to the inner margin above the anal angle. Joining this is another line running from the outer margin. Haploa contigua lacks any lines or spurs in the antemedial portion of the forewing. All-white individuals are indistinguishable from other Haploa species with all-white forms.

Haploa contigua inhabits mesic woodlands to riparian woodlands. The larvae feed on the leaves of many species of woody and herbaceous plants.

The genus name “Haploa” is from the Greek word for “simplicity, singleness”, and the species epithet “contigua” is from the Latin word for “bordering” and so the neighbor moth.

Moths and Their Nighttime Floral Visits

*Xestia normanianus*, a dart moth, nectaring on lance-leaved aster (*Symphyotrichum lanceolatum*) at night.

What do moths do at night anyway? Some of them visit flowers for nectar.

Back in August, I was wandering about in the woods at night looking for foxfire fungi. At the head of the trail on my way out, I saw a sunflower plant with something on the flowers. It was a green tree cricket (Oecanthus) eating the stamens in the sunflower florets.

The next night, I went back but this time with my camera, hoping to find more tree crickets. I had my LED headlamp on like the previous night and used it to illuminate the flowers and foliage where I wanted to photograph. I also set the flash of my camera to “on”.

Although I could hear tree crickets in the bushes, I didn’t see any this time. What I did see were lots of moths on sunflowers and asters. Aiming the lamp’s beam at the flowers, I then pointed my camera at the moths and began taking photos. I wasn’t using a tripod, so many were blurry. Some were also overexposed by the bright LED light. But a few turned out.

*Feltia jaculifera* nectaring on a sawtooth sunflower (*Helianthus grosseratus*)

The moth species (Xestia normanianus, Feltia jaculifera, and Nephelodes minians) I found on flowers at night came as no surprise. These and other dart moth species are common visitors to my moth lights. But it was exciting to see them going about their normal activities in a natural setting. I never did find any foxfire this year.

**Moths weren’t the only visitors to flowers at night. I wonder if this crab spider was sleeping or waiting for a moth.**

I don’t remember planting this

At the end of my drive, I have a small planter partially embedded in the ground. In it, I plant sunflowers and heavenly blue morning glories. This year, I added red-leaved cannas. I also planted scarlet runner beans and thunbergia. Rabbits devoured those even with the fence. But the sunflowers, morning glories, and cannas survived.

To supplement the soil in the planter, I added some purchased compost. Usually, that’s a safe thing to do. Sometimes, though, I have gotten bonus plants like Ranunculus sceleratus (blistering buttercup) and Oxybasis glauca (oak-leaf pigweed). Not that I minded.

This year, Abutilon theophrasti (velvetleaf) came with the compost. Not that it bothers me. I have always found this tropical annual fascinating. Other people, like corn and soy farmers, would probably differ.

But I live far from big ag country. So this velvetleaf plant does not need to fear the sting of herbicides. Abutilon theophrasti, with its soft velvety, roundish leaves, their primary veins radiating from a central point, all connected by fine, parallel secondary veins, and branches tipped by tiny five-petaled orange flowers followed by enormous seed capsules, is welcome here if it behaves.

**Velvetleaf (*Abutilon theophrasti*) fruit**

Discovering the Yellow-Spotted Tussock Moth Caterpillar

**A *Lophocampa maculata* caterpillar that has been feeding on a balsam poplar leaf on a sunny afternoon in September.**

When fall is coming, many fuzzy caterpillars start to show up in the grass and on low trees. A familiar one is the woolly bear caterpillar, which is alleged to foretell the severity of the coming winter. Longer black bands are said to mean a colder winter, while longer orange bands mean a milder winter.

The yellow-spotted tussock moth (Lophocampa maculata) is another fuzzy caterpillar often seen in the fall. It is also a relative of the woolly bear in the Family Erebidae, Subfamily Arctiinae (tiger moths and lichen moths). No word on its meteorological abilities.

Caterpillar decription

The younger Lophocampa maculata caterpillars are orange and without the black ends. When fully grown, it develops a yellow to orange central band, capped by shorter back bands at each end. Some will also have black dots in the yellow band. All the hairs of this fuzzy caterpillar are in clusters called fascicles. The shorter ones that cover most of the body remind me of splayed paint brushes. Tufts of stiff white hairs (“lashes”) poke out from the shorter, denser body hairs of the head and posterior black bands.

Caterpillar variations

Below are some variations of the caterpillar’s coloring on larvae I found just a few miles away from my home. All have spots down the back, and two do not have black anteriors or posteriors. The one on the left is feeding on beaked hazel, the middle one is on tag alder, and the one on the right is feeding on shining willow.

Adult moth description

Adult Lophocampa maculata moths are distinguished by a contrasting pattern of alternating bands of warm, muted golden-orange and darker brown markings with a reddish-orange tinge

Life cycle

After hatching from eggs laid in summer, the Lophocampa maculata caterpillar feeds and grows. Preferred food plants are deciduous tree leaves such as aspen, willow, birch, oak, maple, and apple.

When cold weather seems inevitable, the caterpillar goes into pupation to wait out the winter. The pupa is enclosed in a silken cocoon attached to plant leaves. In my area, between late June and early July, the moths will hatch from their cocoons to fly in search of a mate, beginning the process again.

Adult Lophocampa maculata moth — **This yellow-spotted tussock moth (*Lophocampa maculata*) came to my light this summer on June 29th.**

Similar species

Lophocampa caryae adults are similar to Lophocampa maculata, but the forewing is yellow with brown shading and lacks the yellow band on the terminal ends of the forewing. Their larvae are white with black markings and long hairs. It is found mainly in the northeast. Like Lophocampa maculata, the larvae are polyphagous and feed on leaves of hickory, ash, oak, maple, elm, and other woody plants and vines.