Trichordestra liquida

This moth has a history of being moved from genus to genus. In roughly chronological order it has been included in the genera Mamestra, Polia, Lacanobia and now Trichordestra. The beautiful caterpillar has sometimes been insulted with the unflattering name Striped Garden Cutworm. The eggs are laid in a tight little cluster on the flower heads of grasses. The caterpillars eat grasses, though I have also found and reared them on gooseberry and willow. Pupation is on or under the ground, without a cocoon, and the moth either emerges a few weeks later, or waits over winter.