Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

28 August 2004   10:02PM EDT  (left and right)
Both photos are of the same specimen.

The forewing of Meropleon diversicolor is divided in half, with the the inner half mostly dark gray-brown, and the outer half mostly white.  The basal area is beige to dark gray-brown, darkest toward the inner margin.  The antemedial line is double, with whitish filling.  In the dark brown to black inner half of the median, there is an elongated, slightly curved spot, outlined in black, with the interior zoned white and gray-brown.  The outer half of the median is pale beige.  The curved postmedial line is whitish and usually fairly evident, despite the fact that its color contrasts little with the adjacent median and subterminal areas; small black dashes are usually evident outside the points of the scallops of the pm line.  The subterminal area is shaded with light grayish brown and slightly darker near the anal angle; the color is dark enough that the irregular whitish subterminal line is clearly visible.  The terminal line is a series of dark dashes.

The larva of Meropleon diversicolor is a miner on sedges (Handfield, 1999).  Handfield indicates an adult flight season from mid-August to slightly after mid-September for my general area.

I have photographed this species in 2000, on 9 September; in 2001, on 19 September; in 2002, on 23 August and on 28 September; in 2003, on 28 August.