Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

23 May 2004   10:54PM EST  (top)
7 July 2003   11:37PM EST  (bottom left)
12 July 2004   10:40PM EST  (bottom right)

Habrosyne scripta is one of two very similar species of Habrosyne known to occur in Ottawa (J.D. Lafontaine, pers. comm., 2001).

The forewing of Habrosyne scripta is brownish gray, strikingly patterned in white and black with shading in reddish brown, and a very sleek, smooth appearance.  When the wings are closed in the resting position, the gray-brown lower part of the basal area is so smooth and plain as to remind one of an empty cartouche where one would have the monogram engraved on a piece of ornate silver.  The postmedial line appears as a looping zigzag of fine black parallel lines, clearest at the midpoint of the wing.  The thorax is surmounted by a very architectural crest or ruff; the bottom right photograph gives some sense of the three-dimensional complexity of this feature.  Covell (1983) indicates a wingspan of 3.0 to 3.9 cm.

The larvae of Habrosyne scripta feed on various species of birch and on Rubus species such as black raspberry, purple-flowering raspberry, etc. (Handfield, 1999).  Handfield indicates two generations per year for this species in my general area, with flight seasons from late May to the beginning of July, and from early July to the end of August.

I have recorded this species in 2001 on 18 and 26 June, and on 8 July; in 2002, on 30 June; in 2003, on 7 July; in 2004, on 23 May, on 17 June, and on 12 July.