Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

25 August 2005   9:38PM EST  (top left)
3 August 2005   11:05PM EST  (top right)
27 May 2004   8:38PM EST  (bottom left)
25 August 2005   9:43PM EST  (bottom right)
The photos at top left and bottom right are of the same specimen.

Faronta diffusa has a light yellowish tan forewing streaked with gray-brown and white. A narrow white streak runs from the base of the wing to a point about two-thirds of the way along the length of the wing.  A wider streak of purplish brown extends about the same distance from the base along the lower edge of the white streak; this streak partly masks a narrow black basal dash.  Along the upper edge of the white streak, there is a faint hint of a brown streak that, from the end of the white streak, begins to flare and intensify into a dark purplish-brown wedge that reaches the outer margin, with an extension along the outer margin towards the apex.  There is also faint streaking the length of the wing adjacent to the costa.  The usual lines and spots are not evident, except for a small black mark standing for the reniform spot and a narrow, continuous, pale terminal line preceding the grayish fringe.  The front of the thorax is whitish.  The hindwing is whitish, lightly shaded with grayish brown, and with veins traced in gray-brown. Covell (1984) gives a wingspan ranging from 2.7 to 3.6 cm.

According to Handfield (1999), the larva of Faronta diffusa, known as the Wheat Head Armyworm, can be an economically significant pest of forage and grain crops, including wheat and corn and many others. For my general area, Handfield indicates two generations per year, with adult flight seasons from mid-May to the beginning of July, and from early July to the beginning of September.

My records to date for Faronta diffusa (each date representing "the night of") are in the table below: