Comprehensive Description
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A small (2.4-2.5 cm wingspan) moth with dark brown forewings and dark sooty brown hindwings, with few obvious markings. The forewings may range in color from grey brown to red-brown, but Alberta specimens examined are dark (almost black) red-brown. Markings consist of the round black orbicular and vertical oblong black reniform spots, outlined with slightly lighter brown. And a close examination will also show some black scaling marking partial antemedian and postmedian lines, and lighter scales marking the subterminal line. Sexes are alike, with females sometimes a bit paler and with a heavier, broader abdomen. They fly with and are easy to mistake for A. placida. Abagrotis placida are larger and have a contrasting paler terminal band on the forewings and slightly paler hindwings. Questionable specimens can be identified by examining the genitalia. Female have a rounded bursa with a single large signa (more oblong with a much “fatter” vesica with a larger more prominent terminal cornutus than placida. Adults and genitalia of both sexes are illustrated in Lafontaine (1998).
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