Euxoa messoria (Harris) Reaper Dart

Pogue, Michael G., 2006, The Noctuinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, U. S. A., Zootaxa 1215 (1), pp. 1-95 : 25

14. Euxoa messoria (Harris) Reaper Dart (adult), Darksided Cutworm (larva)

( Fig. 17, Map 10)

Identification: Forewing length 13.0–18.0 mm. Forewing ground color is light brown with a brown pattern. Orbicular and reniform spots are light brown outlined with black. Hindwing color is dirty white to light brown; costa, outer margin, and veins are dark.

Flight period: Collected in late August.

Collected Localities: North Carolina: Haywood Co., Purchase Knob. (1 specimen)

MAP 10. Collecting localities of Euxoa messoria .

General distribution: Another wide ranging species, recorded from Newfoundland west to Yukon and south to GSMNP and west to Missouri in the East and southern New Mexico, Arizona, and California in the West.

Larval hosts: A pest of apple trees ( Malus sp. Rosaceae ), cultivated flowers, vegetables and a variety of wild plants ( Covell 1984). In the East it is a pest of tobacco (Nicotania sp., Solanaceae ). Broad­leaved plants are preferred, but it feeds on a variety of grasses and is an occasional pest of corn seedlings in the central United States ( Lafontaine 1987).