''Protorthodes eureka'' is a

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

Noctuidae The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family of moths. They are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the other f ...

first described by

William Barnes William Barnes (22 February 1801 – 7 October 1886) was an English polymath, writer, poet, philologist, priest, mathematician, engraving artist and inventor. He wrote over 800 poems, some in Dorset dialect, and much other work, including a co ...

and

Foster Hendrickson Benjamin Foster Hendrickson Benjamin (1895–1936) was an American entomologist and lepidopterist. Biography Benjamin was born in 1895, and was friends with George P. Engelhardt and Jacob Doll, who introduced him to entomology. In 1921 he graduated from ...

in 1927. It is found in North America from southern

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 ...

southward in the western

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

and in the

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

to east-central

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and south-western

. The habitat consists of open xeric habitats, especially sagebrush prairie and open pinyon-juniper woodlands. The length of the forewings is 11–13 mm. The forewings are reddish brown with a longitudinally-streaked pattern resulting from dark-colored veins and lighter-brown color between the veins. There is a series of black sagittate (arrowhead-shaped) spots on the inner side of the almost straight subterminal line. The hindwings are pale whitish gray with a gray marginal band with an indistinct medial margin. The veins are dark. Adults are on wing from early August to late September.''Pacific Northwest Moths''
/ref>

References

Moths described in 1927 Hadeninae {{Hadeninae-stub