Bug FAQBordered Apamea Moth and Allies
Apamea sordens · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Noctuidae
Also called: Bordered Apamea Moth, Rustic Shoulder-Knot
Source: Wikipedia
The Bordered Apamea moth has a 36-42 mm wingspan and brown forewings with a narrow black mark at the base, while the hindwings are grey-brown with dark veins. It lives across Europe, the Palearctic to China and Japan, and also in North America from Labrador to Virginia and west across Canada to Minnesota.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Forewings are brown with a narrow black mark at the wing base; hindwings are grey-brown, darker at the edges, and show prominent dark veins.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Wingspan ranges from 36 to 42 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
Found in fields, grasslands and steppe habitats.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Larvae eat a variety of grasses and grains such as oats, fescues, barley, wheat, rye, timothy, wild rice and corn.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Overwinters as a larva and continues feeding in mild weather throughout the season.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults fly in May and June in the British Isles.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Occurs in North America from Labrador to Virginia, across Canada and south to Minnesota.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
The form ab. grisescens from Tibet and Turkestan is paler and greyer. The melanistic form ab. unicolor from northern England has a dark reddish-brown ground colour with obscured markings and a much darker hindwing.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 36 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Michigan, Massachusetts, Vermont, Minnesota, Connecticut.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What plants does it damage?
Its larvae feed on many grasses and cereal crops, including oats, barley, wheat, rye, timothy, wild rice and corn.
Source: Wikipedia
When are the adults active?
Adults are on the wing in May and June in the British Isles.
Source: Wikipedia
Where can I find this moth?
It lives in fields, grasslands and steppe across Europe, Asia and parts of North America.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Noctuidae)
Ipsilon Dart MothAgrotis ipsilonDamages trees, gardens or crops
Fall Armyworm MothSpodoptera frugiperdaDamages trees, gardens or crops
Army Cutworm MothEuxoa auxiliarisDamages trees, gardens or crops
Large Yellow UnderwingNoctua pronubaDamages trees, gardens or crops
Silver ΥAutographa gamma
American DaggerAcronicta americanaCan irritate skinSources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apamea_sordens
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.