Protoperigea posticata

University of Alberta E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum Read more about this collection »

SeasonalityThere is a single annual brood, which flies in late summer or early fall IdentificationA medium-size (approx 3.5-3.8 cm wingspan) silky grey-brown or yellow-brown moth with darker markings and shining white hindwings. The forewings have narrow erratic and poorly defined antemedian and postmedian lines, marked at the costa by a patch of dark scales. The terminal area of the wing is darker than the rest, with a blackish subterminal line or band, darkest and most prominent near the midpoint, and a thin broken dark terminal line. There is also a prominent dark black-brown reniform spot. The hindwings are white with a few brown scales along the veins, especially along the distal part, and with a narrow dark terminal line. The antennae are simple and the sexes are similar. Protoperigea anotha, which occurs only in the mountains, is smaller and grayer with less prominent contrasting subterminal bands. The rather cloudy pattern and silky sheen of Protoperigea species is difficult to describe but quite distinctive. Protoperigea are similar in this regard to Pronoctua species, which are darker and have dark, not white, hindwings

Scientific Name Protoperigea posticata Habitat arid badlands grasslands Seasonality There is a single annual brood, which flies in late summer or early fall Identification

A medium-size (approx 3.5-3.8 cm wingspan) silky grey-brown or yellow-brown moth with darker markings and shining white hindwings. The forewings have narrow erratic and poorly defined antemedian and postmedian lines, marked at the costa by a patch of dark scales. The terminal area of the wing is darker than the rest, with a blackish subterminal line or band, darkest and most prominent near the midpoint, and a thin broken dark terminal line. There is also a prominent dark black-brown reniform spot. The hindwings are white with a few brown scales along the veins, especially along the distal part, and with a narrow dark terminal line. The antennae are simple and the sexes are similar. Protoperigea anotha, which occurs only in the mountains, is smaller and grayer with less prominent contrasting subterminal bands. The rather cloudy pattern and silky sheen of Protoperigea species is difficult to describe but quite distinctive. Protoperigea are similar in this regard to Pronoctua species, which are darker and have dark, not white, hindwings

Life History Poorly known. There is a single annual brood, which flies in late summer or early fall. The adults are attracted to light. In Alberta posticata has been collected during the first week of September. Range A western species, occurring from the lower South Saskatchewan and Lost River badlands in southeastern Alberta west to BC and south to California. In Alberta it has been found in arid badlands grasslands Notes

Little is known about this rather drab moth. It is another of the western aridlands moths that reach their northeastern limit in southeastern Alberta. Jim Troubridge and I collected the first Alberta specimens in late 2005, along the South Saskatchewan River valley south of Bindloss and Lost River valley south of Onefour.

Page Citation

"Species Details - Protoperigea posticata, University of Alberta E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum." University of Alberta Museums Search Site, https://search.museums.ualberta.ca/g/2-6340. Accessed 15 May. 2025.

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