''Iridopsis ephyraria'', commonly known as the pale-winged gray, is a species of

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

in the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Francis Walker in 1860. It is found in the United States and southern Canada east of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

, from

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, west to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and north to

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 23–28 mm. The wings are whitish gray with variable overlay of yellowish brown and darker gray. The lines are black. The postmedial line has a rounded bulge near the forewing costa. There are four black spots along the costa. The discal spots are large and hollow on all wings. Adults are on wing from June to September. The larvae feed on a wide range of woody plants ''

Fraxinus ''Fraxinus'' (), common name, commonly called ash, is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45–65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous, though a number of Subtropics, subtropic ...

'', ''

Abies balsamea ''Abies balsamea'' or balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada (Newfoundland west to central Alberta) and the northeastern United States (Minnesota east to Maine, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to ...

'', '' Betula'', '' Prunus virginiana'', '' Tsuga canadensis'', ''

Ulmus Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of Nor ...

'', ''

Ribes uva-crispa ''Ribes uva-crispa'', known as gooseberry or European gooseberry, is a species of flowering shrub in the currant family, Grossulariaceae. It is native to Europe, the Caucasus and northern Africa. Gooseberry bushes produce an edible fruit and ar ...

'', '' Acer'' and '' Salix'' species. The larvae are light brown and mimic twigs. The head is flat faced, mottled with tan, white, black and occasionally pink. There are often black spots forming a dark blotch to either side of the triangle. '' Pimpla pedalis'' is a parasitoid of ''I. ephyraria'' pupae.

References

External links

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"Life history of ''Iridopsis ephyraria'', (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), a defoliator of eastern hemlock in eastern Canada"
Boarmiini Moths described in 1860 Moths of North America Lepidoptera of the United States Lepidoptera of Canada Taxa named by Francis Walker (entomologist) {{Boarmiini-stub