Bug FAQSpear-marked and White-banded Black Moths
Rheumaptera hastata · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Geometridae
Also called: Argent & Sable, Argent And Sable, Argent and Sable Moth, Spear-marked Black
The moth has a black background with various white markings, including a wide white band with black dots and a spear-head shaped white element on the wing margin. It is found across the Holarctic region, especially in Europe, northern Asia to the Russian Far East, China, Japan, and large parts of North America.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The wings are mainly black with variable white pattern elements. White patches cross the dark midfield and may form a continuous area. The outer cross line appears as a broad white band that usually carries a row of black dots. Along the black wing margin a wavy line broken into white stains creates an arrow- or spearhead-shaped mark. The fringe is patterned in black and white patches.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They are commonly found on wetlands and hillsides.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
It is also widespread throughout Europe and extends across northern Asia to the Russian Far East, China, and Japan. Overall, its distribution is Holarctic.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
R. hastata is highly variable and includes several local races. The nominotypical form is large, with a strongly broken median band and intense black markings. Form laxata has widened white areas, a broader post-median band, narrowed and broken black median markings, and lacks black dots in the post-median band. Form demolita shows an extreme reduction of the black median band, leaving only small patches on the discocellulars and hindmargin.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 32 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Alaska, Colorado, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Vermont.
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 does the spear-head marking look like?
A wavy black line on the wing margin is broken into white spots that together form an arrow- or spearhead-shaped element.
Source: Wikipedia
Where might I find this moth?
It lives on wetlands and hillsides across Europe, northern Asia, Japan, and large parts of North America.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Geometridae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argent_and_sable
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-25 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-25.