Operophtera bruceata

Probably the last moth of the year for this area. Daytime highs are in the upper 30s to lower 40s F and drop down to 20 degrees at night.

comments (11)

Christine Young

Lion

Whoa! Are those temps normal for MN? We still have mostly low 60's/high 50's during the day here. Posted 8 months ago
1. Gary B
  
  Lion
  
  They're not unusual but I think these are a little lower than normal. There's already ice forming on some small ponds in the woods. An inch of snow is predicted for Halloween. Posted 8 months ago
2. 1. Christine Young
    
    Lion
    
    "Autumn" is a relative term in the north. Posted 8 months ago
  2. 1. Gary B
      
      Lion
      
      I still have some flowers blooming in my garden though! Posted 8 months ago
    2. 1. Christine Young
        
        Lion
        
        They have learned to be hardy! I still have mums in bloom, but they are partly brown and crusty now. Posted 8 months ago
      2. Gary B
        
        Lion
        
        A few New England asters and Violas but not for long here. The asters look bad. Posted 8 months ago
    3. Ferdy Christant
      
      Lion
      
      We also had our first frost last night :)
      Plus back to winter time, so darkness sets in at 5PM :( Posted 8 months ago
    4. 1. Gary B
        
        Lion
        
        The days are just too short now and the sun is getting lower on the horizon even at noon.
        
        First frost? is that early or late for where you live? Posted 8 months ago
      2. Ferdy Christant
        
        Lion
        
        It's not very unusual but a bit on the early side. To be honest, our weather is crazy unpredictable in the last decade. We used to have solid winters, months of frost. Now it can swing any way. We could also face a hot winter, with almost no frost and 10-15C temps.
        
        Daytime frost is increasingly unusual for us, usually a few days per year only, at most 2 weeks. Posted 8 months ago
        
        Gary B
        
        Lion
        
        The hard killing frosts came in early October here which is very late. But like you, we are experiencing odd weather. Later killing frosts, an earlier start to the growing season, and winters that should have cold weather with snow not slush and rain. But we'll see how this winter goes. This month in about 2 days we got 8 inches of rain and a flood. That amount of rain in such a short period is more the norm now. Posted 8 months ago
        
        Christine Young
        
        Lion
        
        We've had a few frosts, but no hard frost yet- although, it looks like that will be coming next week. Sunset is around 5:45ish, I think. Our weather has been pretty dry, until this past week. And, we've had less snow during the winter as well. Posted 8 months ago

The Bruce spanworm

''Operophtera bruceata'', the bruce spanworm, hunter's moth, or native winter moth is a species of moth of the family Geometridae. It is found from coast to coast in southern Canada and the northern parts of the United States.

The wingspan of the males is 25–30 mm. Females have underdeveloped wings and do not fly. Adults are on wing from October to December.

Bruce spanworm looks very similar and has a similar life cycle to the invasive congener winter moth . Bruce spanworm.. more

Info 5 0

Similar species: Moths And Butterflies

Species identified by Gary B