Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

28 April 2003   9:07Pm EST  (top left)
19 April 2005   11:48PM EST  (top right)
19 April 2005   9:05PM EST  (bottom left)
21 April 2005   (moth captured 19 April 2005)  (bottom right)
The two photos at bottom are of the same specimen.

Feralia major is a somewhat variable species that occurs in two main forms: a darker form with comparatively indistinct markings that commonly occurs in the northern part of this species' range, and a brighter form similar in appearance to Feralia jocosa that occurs mainly in the southern part of this species' range.  The specimens illustrated here are all of the darker northern version.

Feralia major has the most subdued appearance of the three Feralia species occurring in my general area.  The forewing is a pale grayish green in color, and the medial area is heavily speckled with black scales.  The orbicular and reniform spots are paler and much less speckled, but somewhat indistinct in outline; sometimes both spots, especially the reniform spot, are almost completely obscured by the dark speckling as in the photograph at top right.  Covell (1984) refers to the presence of a black blotch on the basal side of the reniform spot; this is most noticeable in the photograph at bottom right.  The basal and terminal areas are a clearer pale green, sometimes with a blackish blotch outside the postmedial line near the anal angle.  The fringe is checkered black and white.  The hindwing is predominantly gray-brown but has some areas of pale green, and the fringe is pale green.

According to Handfield (1999), the larvae of Feralia major feed on spruce, pine and larch (tamarack).  The adult's flight season in my general area is from about mid-April to the end of May, but I seldom see this moth, probably because of the relative scarcity of coniferous trees in my immediate vicinity.   

My records of observations of Feralia major (each date representing "the night of") are in the table below: