''Drasteria petricola'', the little arches, is a
moth of the family
Erebidae
The Erebidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwings ('' Catocala'') ...
. The species was
first described by
Francis Walker in 1858.
It is found in western North America from
Yukon and the
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
south to
New Mexico in the
Rocky Mountains, east to
Manitoba.
The
wingspan is about 34 mm. Adults are on wing from May to July.
The larvae feed on ''
Hedysarum'' species. Adults feed on the nectar of flowers, including mint in Utah.
References
Subspecies
*''Drasteria petricola petricola''
*''Drasteria petricola athabasca''
(Neumoegen, 1883) (mountains of British Columbia)
*''Drasteria petricola crokeri''
(Barnes & Benjamin, 1924) (prairie populations)
External links
*
*
*
Drasteria
Moths of North America
Moths described in 1858
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