Google
WWW MPG website only

Digital Guide to Moth Identification

Noctuidae
931822 – 10066   Sympistis fifia (Dyar, 1904)

© Chris Kotzer
Distribution: CNC records from Canada: BC; USA: WA, OR, CA, NV, UT, CO, MT - 11/21/2018
Similar Species:
  • Sympistis badistriga - white prothoracic collar compared to the almost black thorax; streakier wings; wider streaks from the wing base and in the cell from the orbicular spot to the subterminal area; whiter hind wings in both males and females - Don Lafontaine (pers. comm. 11/21/2018).
  • Sympistis tenuistriga - separated from badistriga by differences in the ♂ vesica (everted), ♀ bursa and DNA barcode - Don Lafontaine (pers. comm. 6/6/2017); paler brown prothoracic collar than the color of the thorax with some white tips to the scales in some and the thorax is mainly brown with black adjacent to the collar and on the sides. The forewing is a more even brown or gray with less streaking on the ground color and the black streaks are thinner - Don Lafontaine (pers. comm. 11/21/2018).
  • Sympistis fifia - overall more blotchy look with a mostly gray collar and thorax, gray wings, sometimes tinged with brown frequently with dark shading in the lower part of the medial area, which is more constricted than the other two species; fine black streaks in the subterminal; basal and subapical streaks are less sharply defined than the other species; the hind wing is darker sex for sex that either badistriga or tenuistriga - Don Lafontaine (pers. comm. 11/21/2018).
  • Sympistis rayata - records from Texas only; superficially identical to badistriga but speperable by DNA barcode - Don Lafontaine (pers. comm. 11/26/2018).
  • Pinned specimens of related species. (Hint: select View by Region on the related species page.)
Synonymy: Homohadena fifia Dyar, 1904
Taxonomic Notes: Sympistis fifia: Formerly placed in the genus Homohadena.
References
Sympistis fifia
© Marius V. Aurelian
Sympistis fifia
© Chris Kotzer
Sympistis fifia
DNA - © Jim Moore
Sympistis fifia
DNA - © Jim Moore
Sympistis fifia
33mm – © Canadian National Collection
Sympistis fifia
33mm – © Canadian National Collection
Sympistis fifia
DNA - LG – © Jim Moore
Sympistis fifia
LG – © Jim Troubridge
Sympistis fifia
30mm – © Jim Vargo

Moth Photographers Group  at the  Mississippi Entomological Museum  at the  Mississippi State University

Send suggestions, or submit photographs to Webmaster — Moth Photographers Group

Database design and scripting support provided by Mike Boone