Found throughout eastern Canada and the US, Synanthedon acerni has a rather curious color scheme. The moth's shape and size, the patterning on the wings, and the bright orange tuft of hair at the end of the abdomen lend the moth the appearance of a male Scorpionfly.
The larval host plant is maple, Red and Sugar Maple will do although Silver Maple is preferred and there was plenty of the latter growing in the area where the moth was encountered. The larvae bore in the wood and eventually a callus forms where the tree is infested.
