Fragile White Carpet Moth, Hydrelia albifera
Geometridae or Geometer Family
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Small
moth, about three-quarter inch across. Wings are white with three
irregular, wavy, broken, yellow-brown lines curving from side to side. Caterpillar is a little green thing with white stripes. It feeds on paper birch (which we don't have in the Park), or dogwoods. Native from Newfoundland to British Columbia, south to South Carolina to Mississippi to Utah. Easily identifed by the wing pattern, if you are inVirginia. On the west coast, H. brunneifasciata is similar, and from North Carolina south, Lobocleta peralbata, is also similar. Despite the name, it is not related to the moths that like to eat carpets or clothes. |
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