Tag: Notodontidae

Eastern White-blotched Heterocampa
Heterocampa pulverea fam. Notodontidae (Hodges#7990.1)
Host plant(s): Found on red oak sp. (Quercus sp.)
Date(s) and location(s): 18 Sep, 2025 – Council Bluff Lake, Iron County, MO
Notes: As great of a resource as Wagner’s Caterpillars of Eastern North America has been for me, I have to keep reminding myself that it was published in 2005. Taxonomists have been hard at work on a number of taxa since then, and I often struggle with how to find out whether a particular taxon has changed. It recently came to my attention that today’s species, once considered a subspecies of Heterocampa umbrata, was revised in 2021 and given specific status. The common names for these two species are confusing. H. umbrata, which is found in Florida and southeastern Georgia, keeps its name of white-blotched heterocampa, while H. pulverea, which is found throughout eastern U.S. and Canada is now called eastern white-blotched heterocampa.