''Xestia perquiritata'', the boomerang dart, is a
moth of 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 ...
. The species was
first described by
Herbert Knowles Morrison in 1874.
It is found across North America from
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
,
Labrador and northern
New England, west to central
Yukon,
British Columbia and
Washington. There are several disjunct populations, including one in the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the
Rocky Mountains in
Colorado and a coastal bog in central
Oregon.
The
wingspan is 38–45 mm. Adults are on wing from June to August. There is one generation per year.
The larvae feed on various spruce-fir species. They have been reared on ''
Picea glauca'', ''
Picea engelmannii
''Picea engelmannii'', with the common names Engelmann spruce, white spruce, mountain spruce, and silver spruce, is a species of spruce native to western North America. It is mostly a high-altitude mountain tree but also appears in watered canyon ...
'', ''
Abies balsamea'' and ''
Abies lasiocarpa''.
Subspecies
*''Xestia perquiritata perquiritata''
*''Xestia perquiritata beddeki''
(Hampson, 1913)
*''Xestia perquiritata clarkei''
(Benjamin, 1933)
*''Xestia perquiritata orca''
Crabo & Hammond, 2013 (Pacific Coast of Oregon and Washington)
*''Xestia perquiritata partita''
(McDunnough, 1921)
References
External links
*
"The Noctuinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, U.S.A."*
*
Moths described in 1874
Xestia
Moths of North America
{{Xestia-stub