Aseptis characta

Aseptis characta · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Noctuidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Aseptis characta
Photo: Laura Gaudette, CC BY

The caterpillars feed on plants in the Artemisia genus.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

The wingspan ranges from about 29.5 mm to 35 mm.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

The larvae feed on Artemisia species.

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

Adults emerge earliest in dry habitats, usually in April in California and in mid-May in the Pacific Northwest. The flight period continues until July or August, depending on location.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 11 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Montana, California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in United States; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

Questions people ask

What do the caterpillars eat?

The larvae feed on plants of the Artemisia genus.

Source: Wikipedia

Same family (Noctuidae)

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aseptis_characta

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.