Variable Girdle

Not of concern.

In Alberta adults fly in August

Southern Alaska to New Mexico, east to western Alberta (McGuffin 1987).

A mid-sized, grey geometrid with heavy grey speckling and a dark broad median band, with a heavily scalloped border. Hindwing paler, with a faint PM line. Discal spot black, not white as in Caripeta species. Very similar to Nepytia species (particulary freemani), but in Enypia the forewing PM line comes closest to the wing margin near the apex (where it joins the costa), and in Nepytia the PM line is is nearest the wing margin in the subapica (not apical) area. Distinguished from E. griseata by the AM line, which jogs out to the discal spot in venata - the discal spot is well-separated from the AM band in griseata.

Montane coniferous forest. In the Kananaskis River valley, this species is found in lodgepole pine -

Larvae are rather stout for a geometrid, somewhat resembling cutworms. They exhibit a grey and a rust-brown colour morph, and feed on conifer foliage until the onset of cooler weather in the fall; hibernation is in the 4th or 5th larval instar (Duncan 2003). Adults are nocturnal and come to lights.

Larvae feed on conifers. Western hemlock (Tsuga), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga), and spruce (Picea) are reported hosts (Prentice 1963).

Enypia venata, the variable girdle, is a species of geometrid moth in the family Geometridae. It was first described by Augustus Radcliffe Grote in 1883 and it is found in North America.

The MONA or Hodges number for Enypia venata is 7005.