Faronta diffusa
Encyclopedia
The Wheat Head Armyworm (Dargida diffusa) is a moth
of the Noctuidae
family. It is found in most of Eastern North America
, except Yukon
and Alaska
.
The wingspan
is 27–36 mm. Adults are on wing form May to September depending on the location.
The larvae feed on seed heads of cereal crops and grasses, especially Phleum pratense.
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
of the Noctuidae
Noctuidae
The Noctuidae or owlet moths are a family of robustly-built moths that includes more than 35,000 known species out of possibly 100,000 total, in more than 4,200 genera. They constitute the largest family in the Lepidoptera....
family. It is found in most of Eastern North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, except Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
and Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
.
Wingspan
The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...
is 27–36 mm. Adults are on wing form May to September depending on the location.
The larvae feed on seed heads of cereal crops and grasses, especially Phleum pratense.
Subspecies
- Dargida diffusa obscurior (Smith, 1902)
- Dargida diffusa limitata (Smith, 1902)
- Dargida diffusa neptis (Smith, 1902)