ID help: A light brown Nemoria?

[PuerNux at aol.com]

George, 
Be sure to check to see if the moths you are referring to have the small white dots on the dorsal abdomen. I think I have seen several of these small tan moths that do look just like Nemoria, but they do not have the abdominal spots. I have seen the melanic Nemoria this year, and they retained the white spots that marked them as Emeralds instead of other Ennominae. If you find out for sure that these little tan moths are Nemoria (or otherwise), let me know. I will double check my specimens in any case. 

Lynn....love your website. I peruse it often for fun and for ID's. I wish I could find the free webspace to do my own site like that for a summer project, but I've got plenty of moths on my plate already. Your photos are awesome.

Regards, 
Eric Hossler

>I guess the simplest answer is Yes.
>
>The book that should be consulted is Ferguson, D.G. 1985. The Moths of 
>North America Fascicle 18.1 Geometroidea Geometridae (Part).
>
>page 9 "The green coloring of Geometridae is turned brown by an acid and 
>cannot be restored..."
>page 19 " (Nemoria) commonly bright green, varying from yellowish green to 
>bluish green, occasionally brown..
>
>     '
>At 12:32 PM 4/21/02 -0400, you wrote:
>>I don't know about Nemoria rubrifrontaria, but Covell does refer to 
>>brownish green melanic specimens of N. lixaria with dark brown lines and 
>>fringe, although he does not illustrate this form.  Similarly Handfield, 
>>in his guide to Quebec lepidoptera, refers to a brown form of N. 
>>bistriaria that he cites as occurring only in the spring generation to the 
>>extent of about 10% of specimens, but does not illustrate it as this form 
>>has not been collected from Quebec.  Do Nemoria species in general tend to 
>>have a small number of occurrences of brown variants?
>>
>>Lynn Scott
>>
>>Subject: ID help: A light brown Nemoria?
>>From: ghg3 at aol.com (GHG3)
>>Newsgroups: sci.bio.entomology.lepidoptera
>>
>>I have a few light tan moths that look identicle to Nemoria rubrifrontaria,
>>except that they are not green.  Same size, same markings, same shape.  Is it
>>N. rubrifrontaria?  Is it in Covell or Holland?
>>
>>Thanks for any help!
>>
>>George Gifford
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>

 
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