Photedes defecta, the narrow-winged borer, is a moth of the family Noctuidae.

[1] The species was first described by Augustus Radcliffe Grote in 1874.

It is found in North America from Maryland and Massachusetts north to New Brunswick, west to North Dakota and British Columbia.

Adults are on wing from July to September.

There is one generation per year, but there might be a smaller second brood in mid to late September.