Bug FAQNemoria arizonaria
Nemoria arizonaria · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Geometridae
Nemoria arizonaria is an emerald-colored moth with a wide post-medial line and a thin yellow terminal line that has a slight red tint between the veins. It lives in canyon habitats at 4,000 to 8,000 ft elevation in the Southwest US and is often seen resting on windows and screens.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The moth is emerald colored with one of the broadest post-medial lines among North American Nemoria species. A thin yellow terminal line with a slight red color between the veins runs along the wing edge.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
A white fringe outlines its roughly one-inch wingspan.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It is typically restricted to canyon habitats at elevations of about 4,000 to 8,000 feet.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Larvae feed on oak catkins in the spring or on oak leaves and twigs in other seasons. Adult moths feed on nectar.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Spring-born larvae eat oak catkins and resemble catkins, while leaf-eating larvae look like twigs. After a few weeks the larvae pupate and emerge as adults that die shortly after mating and laying eggs.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
The species has two seasonal forms: a summer form and a winter/spring form.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
The summer form was formerly described as a separate species, Nemoria aemularia. Research showed that N. aemularia and N. arizonaria are the same species, differing only by seasonal dimorphism.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 3 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What are the two seasonal forms of Nemoria arizonaria?
One form appears in summer and has a white costa, while the other appears in winter or spring; they are the same species despite looking different.
Source: Wikipedia
What do the larvae of Nemoria arizonaria eat?
Spring larvae feed on oak catkins, and later larvae feed on oak leaves and twigs.
Source: Wikipedia
How can I recognize Nemoria arizonaria?
Look for an emerald-colored moth with a wide post-medial line, a thin yellow terminal line with a slight red tint, and a white fringe outlining a one-inch wingspan.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Geometridae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemoria_arizonaria
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-27 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-27.