large lace-border

not listed

NNR - Unranked

SNR - Unranked

not listed

Large lace-border is a medium-sized geometer moth but is the largest member of the genus Scopula in our area. It occurs in the United States and southern Canada east of the Rocky Mountains. Adults are found from early June to early September in forests, woodlands, swamps, and other wetlands. Larvae feed on the leaves of many woody and herbaceous plants, including apple, bedstraw, blackberry, blueberry, cherry, chokeberry, clover, dandelion, elm, smartweed, and shrubby cinquefoil.

Adults are ¾″ to 1¼″ (20 to 31 mm) in length and have a wingspan of 1″ to 13⁄16″ (25 to 30 mm). They have slender bodies and relatively large wings. The wings are whitish or yellowish with variable markings. They are speckled with dark brown dots and are crossed by faint, yellowish-brown, wavy, antemedial (AM), median, and postmedial (PM) lines. There is a small black discal spot in the middle of each wing. There is usually dark shading on all wings in the subterminal area, and this shading sometimes forms a continuous band. This could appear lacy to an imaginative observer. This is the feature that gives the moth its common name. Individuals without this shading have been called Scopula limboundata f. enucleata. They were formerly considered a separate species. There is sometimes a large blackish blotch in the anal angle of the forewing.

The caterpillar, called an inchworm, is slender. It is extremely long relative to it thickness, but at maturity it is less than 1⅜″ in length. Early stage (instar) caterpillars are always green, while late instars are more often brown. There is often a dark longitudinal stripe in the middle on the upper side (middorsal) of the abdomen.

Total length: ¾″ to 1¼″ (20 to 31 mm)

Wingspan: 1″ to 13⁄16″ (25 to 30 mm)

Forests, woodlands, swamps, and other wetlands

Two generations per year: early June to early September

Adults rest with their wings spread wide.

The fourth instar caterpillar overwinters.

Foliage of many woody and herbaceous plants, including apple, bedstraw, blackberry, blueberry, cherry, chokeberry, clover, dandelion, elm, smartweed, and shrubby cinquefoil.

Flower nectar

Sources

7, 21, 24, 27, 29, 30, 71, 72, 75, 82.

Common

Barnes Prairie hedgerow, Racine Co., WI photo taken July 3, 2021.

Location: near Houston, MN

Location: Great River Bluffs State Park

Location: Barnes Prairie hedgerow, Racine Co., WI