Charles Armstrong

CRANBERRIES

Isturgia truncataria (Walker)
Order: Lepidoptera || Family: Geométridae

Found in Dennysville, Maine on May 24, 2000 and Turner, Maine on May 16, 2005
photo of Isturgia truncataria moth

Thanks to Richard (Dick) Dearborn--former Maine Forest Service's Survey Entomologist--we now know the identity of this rather rare, day-flying (diurnal) moth. This moth is a member of the Geometridae family (measuringworms, geometers or inchworms), which has some 1400 species occurring in the US and Canada (yes, a very large family)! The moths exist from May to July and its preferred larval host plant is Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), but it can probably survive on cranberry as well. The moth is found in peat or sphagnum bogs (such as cranberry bogs as we now know). The eggs are laid singly on the underside of leaves of the bearberry plant. (Perhaps they are also laid on cranberry leaves, but that is impossible to say at this point). Dick found the information on it in the Guide to the Geometridae of Canada (Lepidoptera). It is found in Newfoundland and Labrador, and north to Alaska and south to New Jersey in the east and Colorado and Arizona in the west. Some other regions mentioned in Canada where it is found include Nova Scotia, southern Ontario, southern Manitoba, Laurentide Park in Quebec, and in the mountainous areas of southern Alberta and British Columbia. another photo of the I. truncataria moth

another photo of the I. truncataria moth

Photos by Charles Armstrong--May 27, 2000

If you have comments or questions about this page,
contact Charles Armstrong at: charlesa@umext.maine.edu

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