Nemoria glaucomarginaria (Barnes & McDunnough, 1917.) [7049]

       Nemoria glaucomarginaria larvae images

Nemoria glaucomarginaria is chiefly a California species, though Ferguson also reports it in collections from coastal Oregon and Washington states as well as a number of records from British Columbia. The species is noted for its close resemblance to Nemoria darwiniata, which occurs over a considerably wider western geographic range.

Nemoria glaucomarginaria is recognized as a medium to large sized Nemoria with very typical features. The color of the wing is a bright green with a slight blue tint to it, and the wings are marked with thin but distinct pm and am lines. The antemedial of the hindwing is strongly convex and may be shifted more to the base of the wing than is sometimes seen. Like darwiniata, Nemoria glaucomarginaria has no red terminal line, and may be found with a variety of markings on the fringes, which may be cream or almost yellowish in color and are sometimes strongly checkered with pink.

A number of subtle features distinguish glaucomarginaria from darwiniata, and Ferguson's diagnosis focuses chiefly on the size, number and shading of the abdominal spots as the most useful character in this distinction. Nemoria glaucomarginaria has typical to slightly larger than average abdominal spots that are a cream or almost light brown shade, surrounded by a dull brick red circling of scales. Female glaucomarginaria are commonly marked with four abdominal spots in series. Nemoria darwiniata by contrast typically has small bright white spots surrounded by dark cherry red or even purplish brown coloration, especially in the form of the subspecies Nemoria darwiniata punctularia, which is more likely to overlap glaucomarginaria across much of its California range. Many Nemoria darwiniata specimens display reddish brown discal spots on the forewing, especially in the subspecies N. darwiniata punctularia. Ferguson reported that glaucomarginaria always lacks the discal spots.