Large Yellow Underwing Moth

This is one of the most abundant moths in Britain. It is not a true cutworm but climbs up onto growing foliage at night during the spring and munch into your plants. A bigger menace is Noctua comes, the lesser yellow underwing. The true cutworms are members of Agrotis and closely related genera. We live in Britain with plenty of Noctua pronuba and its ranking as a garden pest is quite down the list for us Brits. However, many of our species can play havock in some parts of USA, but are rarities or have become extinct in Britain e.g. Lymantria dispar. We have a lot to learn when it comes to ecological balance.

Native to Europe and Asia, these have been introduced in North America and have spread rapidly.

They're common around here in Pennsylvania; I've found dozens of adults congregating on walls in a house I was remodeling. The larvae are cutworms and are an agricultural pest.