Abagrotis alternata

Abagrotis alternata, the greater red dart or mottled gray cutworm, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Augustus Radcliffe Grote in 1865. It is found in eastern North America, from New Brunswick west across southern Canada to western Alberta, south to Arizona, New Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico.

Abagrotis alternata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Abagrotis
Species:
A. alternata
Binomial name
Abagrotis alternata
Grote, 1865
Synonyms
  • Abagrotis alternatella
  • Abagrotis uniformis

The wingspan is 38–43 mm. Adults are on wing in August in Alberta. There is one generation per year.

The larvae feed on a wide range of plants. In eastern North America they can become pests on vegetable crops and in some fruit trees, damaging buds and new growth. Recorded food plants include white spruce, walnut, hickories, oak, strawberry, apple, cherry, plum, peach, potato and tomato.

Abagrotis alternata does not have a significant economic impact despite its prevalence in the northern United States.[1]

References
  1. Rings, Roy W. (1971). "Contributions to the Bionomics of Climbing Cutworms; the Life History of the Mottled Gray Cutworm, Abagrotis alternata". Journal of Economic Entomology. 64 (1): 34–38. doi:10.1093/jee/64.1.34. ISSN 0022-0493.
  • Wagner, David L.; Schweitzer, Dale F.; Sullivan, J. Bolling & Reardon, Richard C. (2011). Owlet Caterpillars of Eastern North America. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691150420.


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