Family Nolidae

Diagnosis: males with a ‘bar-shaped’ retinaculum (similar to that of Arctiids); moths of one of two types: 1) fw with Rs veins arising from a single stalk and with tufts of raised scales; 2) fw with accessory cell, frons glossy on lower half, distance between eyes narrower than eye width in frontal view.

Diversity: Worldwide nine subfamilies, 308 genera, and 1,400 species; North America has three subfamilies, eight genera and 29 species; five species are known to occur in North Dakota.

Checklist numbers: 8969- 8998.

Biology: Larvae on woody plants, forbs, or grasses, usually in webbing or a folded leaf. Cocoon double-walled and ‘boat-shaped’ with a ventral keel. This group has been ‘taxonomically shuffled’ between the Arctiidae and Noctuidae and only recently have synapomorphic characters been recognized.

Further reading:

Forbes, William T. M. 1954. Subfamily 7. Sarrothripinae, pp 286- 290 in ibid. The Lepidoptera of New York and neighboring states. Part III, Noctuidae. Cornell Agric. Expt. Stat. Mem. 329: 433 pp.

Franclemont, John G. 1960. Family 52. Nolidae, pp. 50- 55 in Forbes, William T. M. The Lepidoptera of New York and neighboring states. Part IV, Agaristidae through Nymphalidae including the butterflies. Cornell Agric. Expt. Stat. Mem. 371: 188 pp.

__________. 1985. A new species of Meganola Dyar from eastern North America (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Nolinae). Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash. 87(4): 871- 874.

Kitching, Ian J. and John E. Rawlins. Chapter 19 The Noctuoidea, pp. 355- 401 in Kristensen, Neils P. ed. 1999. Lepidoptera, moths and butterflies. Part 35, Vol. 1 in Handbook of Zoology. Maximilian Fischer ed. Walter de Gryter, New York. 491 pp.

Scoble, Malcom J. 1992. The Higher Ditrysia, Chapter 12, pp. 290- 341 in The Lepidoptera: form, function, and diversity. Oxford Univ. press. 1982. 404 pp.