Eueretagrotis sigmoides (Guenée) Sigmoid Dart

Pogue, Michael G., 2006, The Noctuinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, U. S. A., Zootaxa 1215 (1), pp. 1-95 : 51-52

19. Eueretagrotis sigmoides (Guenée) Sigmoid Dart

( Fig. 60, Map 37)

Identification: Forewing length 18.0–21.0 mm. Eueretagrotis sigmoides is slightly larger and browner than E. perattentus . In E. sigmoides the forewing ground color is brown with a gray M vein in fresh specimens. Costa of forewing from base to reniform spot is lighter than ground color and is a mixture of white, rufous, and tan scales. There is a black basal dash, a triangulate black patch proximal to orbicular spot, and a quadrate black patch between orbicular and reniform spot. Orbicular and reniform spots are a mixture of white, rufous, and gray scales and outlined in black. Claviform spot is faint and consists of a few black scales distal to the basal dash. Antemedial and postmedial lines are light with gray borders. Subterminal line is a mixture of white and rufous scales. Hindwing is gray and darker than E. perattentus with a faint discal cell.

Flight period: Collected in June and July.

Collected localities: North Carolina: Haywood Co., Purchase Knob; Swain Co. , Beetree Ridge . Tennessee: Sevier Co., Jake’s Creek Trail above campsite # 27, 6 mi S Sugarlands Visitor Center, 7 mi S Sugarlands Visitor Center (10 specimens)

MAP 37. Collecting localities of Eueretagrotis sigmoides .

Elevation range: 3320–4860 ft. (1012–1481 m)

General distribution: This species is an eastern North America species distributed in southern Canada from Ontario to central Saskatchewan, and in the United States from Maine to Minnesota, south to western Maryland, Ohio, and western Kentucky ( Lafontaine 1998). The collections from GSMNP are new records for the states of North Carolina and Tennessee and represent a southern range extension .

Larval hosts: Unknown ( Lafontaine 1998).