General Description

A medium-size (2.7–3.6 cm, females smaller than males) creamy white moth with a heavy dusting of brownish grey scales, heavier on the forewings. A faint but thick straight grey line runs across the outer third of the wing from the apex to lower margin. Discal dot faint to obsolete. Hindwing less heavily dusted with grey and with a prominent grey discal spot, in some specimens connected to the wing base by a straight grey line, and with a straight grey line crossing from the apex to the inner margin. The pattern is repeated but much stronger and darker on the ventral surface. Male antennae strongly bipectinate; female finely dentate. The adults of both subspecies and the genitalia of both sexes are illustrated by McGuffin. Aspitates taylori is similar but darker and more strongly marked, and is restricted to open boggy areas in the boreal forest region. There are also excellent characters in the genitalia of both sexes for separating the two species, including the illustrated single pronged aedeagus in males (double pronged in taylori).