University of Alberta Museums Search

A medium-small (2.7-3.0 cm. ws) somewhat shiny dark reddish brown moth with no significant wing markings. The curved PM line and the veins on the outer third of the FW are very faintly marked in darker scales in most specimens. Normal spots obsolete. The HW is similar but slightly paler and less reddish. The collar has grey tipped scales, resulting in a pale grey collar contrasting with the darker thoracic scaling. Antennae simple. Sexes similar. Similar in appearance to dark specimens of Lacinipolia meditata, but can be separated by the contrasting pale collar of stabilis.

I can find no information about stabilis in the literature at hand, other than collection localities. Lafontaine (unpub.) indicates it has been recorded from ON west to BC, although it is not included in either "The Cutworm Moths of Ontario and Quebec" or on Jones list for BC, so it must be rare in both. Homohadena stabilis is a drab moth, but is relatively easy to identify by the combination of the shiny dark red-brown FW and the pale collar. I have taken it at UV light in open mixed hardwoods along the lakeshore at Crooked Lake in southern SK, at MV light in old-growth riparian cottonwood forest along the Red Deer River by Dinosaur P. Pk. in southern AB, and at UV light in riparian willow/shrub along the Milk River at Writing-on-Stone Prov. Pk. in extreme southern AB.