Moth Of The Week

Moth of the Week

Ornate Bella Moth

Utetheisa ornatrix

This moth was first described as Phalaena ornatrix and Phalaena bella by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. In 1960, it became known as the Utetheisa ornatrix by William Trowbridge Merrifield Forbes. It’s also called the ornate bella moth, ornate moth, bella moth or rattlebox moth and is in the family Erebidae.

Description The body is white with black spots on the back of the thorax and head. The legs are black and white and antennae are black and filiform. The hindwings are a pale or bright pink with an irregular black border. The forewings are orangish-yellow with white bands surrounding black dots. Patterns may vary. These colors are used to warn predators of the moth’s toxicity.

Wingspan range: 33 - 46 mm (1.3 - 1.8 in)

Diet and Habitat The larva feed on plants of the Crotalaria species such as Avon Park rattlebox, rabbitbells, smooth rattlebox, and showy rattlebox. These plants provide the larva and adults with alkaloid compounds which are the unpalatable to predators. They accumulate these toxins from the seed pods of these plants, however if the larva can’t eat a seed pod due to competition they will have to eat the leaves where is concentration is much lower. Larvae may prey on/eat others of its kind to maintain high levels of alkaloids. Alkaloids are also passed down from parents to eggs.

Its northern most range is from Connecticut westward to southeastern Nebraska and southward to southern New Mexico and Florida in the United States. Its southern most range is from Mexico, South America, and Central America. It’s southernmost reach is southeastern Brazil. This species is more common in tropical parts of this range due to host plant populations.

Mating This species demonstrates a form of sexual selection. The females choose a male to mate with based on the intensity of their pheromones. During mating, the females receive a “spermatophore” from the males containing sperm, nutrients, and alkaloid compounds. After mating, the females choose which males’ sperm fertilizes the eggs. Usually, the female chooses the male with the most alkaloids which tends to be the larger males. Adult males invest up to 11% of their body mass to create a spermatophore they provide to a female during mating. The nutrients given in the spermatophore allow the female to produce an average of 32 additional eggs in her brood.

Females mate an average of 4-5 times and up to 13 times, each with a different male. In the north there there two generations per year with more in the south.

Predators The larva and adults keep predators at bay with alkaloid compounds accumulated during feeding and inherited from parents. These toxins make them unpalatable to their main predators: spiders and bats. Specifically, the adult moth secretes an alkaloid foam from its head when threatened. However, larva and moths with low concentrations are more susceptible to predation than those with higher concentrations who are usually released and unharmed after being caught.

These toxins do not work against some predators like loggerhead shrikes.

Unlike other moths of the Arctiidae subfamily, this species moth does not have a way to audibly communicate their toxic which would help it to avoid bats altogether.

Fun Fact This species was first described on 1758 by Carl Linnaeus as two different species: Phalaena ornatrix was used to describe the paler moth specimens, and Phalanea bella, described the bright pink moth specimens. It was then moved to the genus Utetheisa in 1819 by Hübner. After nearly a century of struggling to identify this species and its subspecies, Forbes combined both species Utetheisa ornatrix and Utetheisa bella into one in 1960: Utetheisa ornatrix.

(Source: Wikipedia; The Island Packet; Institution of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida)

Moth of the Week

Southern Flannel Moth

Megalopyge opercularis

The southern flannel moth is a part of the family Megalopygidae, the family of flannel moths or crinkled flannel moths. It was described by Sir James Edward Smith in 1797. They get the name “flannel moth” from being covered in setae, hair like bristles that give them a fuzzy, soft look.

Description Adult moths have round, hairy bodies ranging in coloration from cream at the bottom to yellow or light brown at the head. It’s legs are the same brown as the body with black feet. The forewings fade from a darker brown to cream with black/dark brown at the top edge or “costal margin.” The outer margin is white and the middle of the forewings have white patterning. The hindwings are fully cream or have a similar gradient. The antennae of females are thin and white, while males have feathery yellow antennae. Males and females may have differing coloration. Females are larger than males.

The caterpillars are known for their long stinging hairs and their unusual amount of prolegs. Flannel moth caterpillars have 7 pairs of prolegs, while all other butterfly and moth caterpillars have 5 or fewer.

Average wingspan: 30 mm (≈1.18 in)

Diet and Habitat This species live on oak, elm, and wild plum as well as many garden plants such as roses and ivy. Adult moths do not feed.

It’s distributed across the eastern United States/Gulf Coast. They range from New Jersey to Florida and west to Arkansas and Texas. It is common in Florida but reaches its greatest abundance in Texas. They can reach further south to Mexico and Central America. They are commonly found in wooded areas like deciduous forests but can also be found in urban and suburban gardens.

Mating This moths has 2 generations per year, one in the summer and one in the fall. Late larvae may overwinter in their cocoon and emerge in late spring. Females usually mate the night of they leave their cocoons and lay their eggs during the first two nights following mating. Eggs are laid in single or double curved rows and occasionally in patches on foliage or small twigs and are covered with hair from the under side of the female to protect them. Eggs hatch in six to eight days.

Predators Observations of this moth’s predators is lacking, but there are a few reports of lacewing feeding on their eggs and a lizard eating a later instar. It is assumed they are preyed on by other common predators of moths like birds, bats, praying mantises, lady beetles, and ants. At least four species of tachinid flies and two species of ichneumonid wasp have been reported to parasitize the flannel moth larva. The caterpillar protects itself with long venomous spines. When touched they cause severe skin irritation, described as like a broken bone or blunt-force trauma, or even white hot. The reaction tends to spread:

“The reactions are sometimes localized to the affected area, but are often very severe, radiating up a limb and causing burning, swelling, nausea, headache, abdominal distress, rashes, blisters, and sometimes chest pain, numbness, or difficulty breathing. Sweating from the welts or hives at the site of the sting is not unusual.”

Fun Fact The caterpillars are covered in long setae, making it resemble a tiny Persian cat, which is where it is assumed the name "puss" comes from. Some of the many names for the larva include: puss caterpillar, asp, Italian asp, fire caterpillar, woolly slug, opossum bug, puss moth, tree asp, and asp caterpillar.

(Source: Wikipedia; IFAS Extension, University of Florida; Missouri Department of Conservation; AZ Animals)

Moth of the Week:

Rosy Maple Moth

Dryocampa rubicunda

First described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1793, this moth is part of the Saturniidae family. This family is better known as the great silk moth family. However, these moths are the smallest of the silk moths. They get their name from their preferred host plants: maple trees.

Description One difference between males and females are males have larger antennae to sense female mating pheromones. Both share pink antennas, undersides, and legs. Body and wing colors range from yellow, pink, white, and cream. As caterpillars they are green.

Female wingspan: 3.8 - 5 cm (1.5 - 2 in)

Male wingspan: 4.3 - 4.4 cm (1.25 - 1.75 in)

Diet and Habitat The rosy maple moth feeds on red maples, sugar maples, silver maples, box elder maples, and turkey oaks. The caterpillars eat the entire leaf and can even defoliate entire trees, however the damage isn’t usually permanent. Adult moths have no mouths so they do not eat. Rosy maple moths are found on the Atlantic coast of the United States and eastern Canada. Their northernmost reach includes Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Their southernmost reach is Dade County, Florida. They extend west from eastern Texas to Minnesota. Caterpillars live in temperate forests by suburban and urban landscapes

Mating Adult moths are solitary besides mating. During the warmer months, females release pheromones at night to attract males then lay eggs 24 hours after mating. Usually females lay eggs once a season, but they can lay up to 3 times in souther regions. In these cases, rosy maple moths are polyandrous, meaning they will have multiple mating partners. Females lay eggs on the underside of the leaves of the host trees in groups of 10 to 40 eggs.

Average amount of eggs laid: 150 - 200

Predators The predators of these moths are birds like blue jays, tufted titmice, and black-capped chickadees. To prevent predation, this moth uses bright colors to trick predators into thinking it is poisonous. Additionally, the colors help the moth camouflage itself by blending in with the maple seed cases.

Fun Fact Rosy maple moths can’t hear sounds.

(Source: Wikipedia and Animal Spot)

Moth of the Week

Nine-Spotted Moth

Amata phegea, formerly Syntomis phegea

The nine-spotted moth or the yellow belted burnet is a moth in the family Erebidae, the family of tiger moths. The species was first described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus. The moths gets its names from the common nine spots on its wings and the yellow band on the sixth segment of its abdomen.

Description Both the moth’s body and wings are an iridescent blue on black or green on black. The wings usually have eight to nine white spots, six spots on the forewings and two or three spots on the hindwings. However the number and the size of these spots can vary per moth. Finally, the moth’s body has its own yellow spot in the second segment of the abdomen accompanied by a yellow band on the sixth segment. The antennae are thin black wires with white tips, unlike most moths’ antennae which are fluffy or saw edged.

Average wingspan of 37.5 mm (≈1.5 in)

Males are smaller than females and have thicker antennae.

Diet and Habitat The nine-spotted moth caterpillars eat many herbaceous plants such as bedstraws, dandelions, docks, fleaworts, grasses, and other low plants. This species is mainly found in southern Europe but makes appearances in northern Germany, Anatolia, the Caucasus, and the Dutch nature reserves of Leudal and Meinweg. It does not breed in the United Kingdom, but does immigrate there on rare occasions. They prefer drier areas such as open ranges with shrubs and trees, open forests, and sunny slopes.

Mating Adult moths mate in late May to August depending on location. Sources vary as to whether this species has one or three generations a year. Females lay an average of 104 eggs on host plants in groups of up to 61 eggs.

Predators The nine-spotted moth avoids predation by birds due to its mimicry of the Zygaena ephialtes. The Z. ephialtes is a moth unpalatable to birds, so its wings are brightly spotted to warn predators of toxicity. This is called aposematism.

Fun Fact The official term for the nine-spotted moth’s type of antennae is filiform, meaning thread-like. It is the most basic type of insect antennae.

(Source: Wikipedia, Moth Identification, CAB Direct, Amateur Entomologists’ Society)

Moth of the Week

Comet Moth

Argema mittrei

TW: Trypophobia for pictures

The comet moth or the Madagascan moon moth was first described in 1847 by Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville. This moth is a part of the Saturniidae family and is one of the largest silk moths. This species receives its genus name Argema, meaning 'speckled eye' in Greek, from the large eyespots on its forewings and hindwings. Additionally, the name comet moth comes from their long hindwing tails.

Description The comet moth has large yellow wings with magenta patterns by the head, at the tips and outer margin of the forewings, the top and bottom of the hindwings, and the stem of the hindwing tails. Furthermore, the top edge of the forewings, outer edge of the hindwings, and both sides of the tail are outlined in black. Each of the hindwings and the forewings have large magenta and orange eyespots also outlined in black. The final touch on the wings are white accents by the head and in the eyespots. The body of the comet moth is yellow or a yellow-orange with the top of the legs matching then fading to black. They also have orange antennae.

Females have more rounded wings and larger bodies for egg laying

Average male wingspan: 20 cm (≈7.9 in)

Average male tail span of 15 cm (≈5.9 in)

The males have a longer, more feathery antennas than the females to pick up mating pheromones

Males have longer, thinner tails while females have shorter, thicker ones

Diet and Habitat This moth’s diet and host plants include the smoke tree, the marula tree, the Brazilian peppertree, and the cider gum tree. Most sources say adult moths do not feed because of their inability to use their shrunken mouths. Comet moths are native to Madagascar and nowhere else in the world. Their natural habitat are the Madagascan rainforests. However, they can and have been bred in captivity. Today due to habitat loss, their range is limited to the rainforests located south and east of Madagascar’s capital.

Mating Female moths release and pheromone to attract male mates, who fly to find them. After mating, the females lay 120 to 170 eggs on the host plants that will hatch into caterpillars in 10 to 20 days.

Predators Chameleons, geckos, bats, and birds prey on comet moths. To combat this, the comet moth uses its colors to camouflage itself. Additionally, it uses its long tails to mess with a bat’s echolocation and cause it to attack the tails instead of the moth’s vulnerable body. Furthermore, this species has the ability to use ultrasound absorption so the bat’s echo will come back fainter, and the moth is harder to “see.”Finally, the wing’s eyespots are used to fool predators into thinking the comet moth is a more dangerous animal. The largest current threat to comet moths are humans, and this moth is now endangered sure to habitat loss.

Fun Fact This moth used to be on the 1000 Malagasy ariary banknote.

(Source: Wikipedia, AZ Animals, Natural History Museum UK, The Company of Biologists, Moth Identification)

Moth of the Week

Bogbean Buckmoth

Hemileuca maia menyanthevora

The bogbean buckmoth/bog buckmoth is part of the family Saturniidae. This moth was originally described under the Hemileuca maia complex or a group of closely related species in the genus of buck moths: Hemileuca. However, by using genomewide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), entomologists such as Julian R. Dupuis have found both Ontario and Oswego County, NY, populations of buck moths were not part of the H. maia lineage. In 2020, Pavulaan stated the bogbean buck moth may be its own species and called it Hemileuca maia menyanthevora.

Cryan & Dirig described the same taxon as species Hemileuca iroquois on April 2, 2020. The names have not yet been formally synonymized nor has one been discredited.

Description The females’ bodies are all black while the males’ are black with a red tip. Both have black/gray translucent wings. In the middle of the wings are a white band that flows from the forewings to the hindwings. Near the top edges of both wings in the white band is a gray and white eyespot. The forewing eyespot is larger than the hindwing spot.

Average forewing length: 29 mm (≈1.14 in)

Males have thicker antennae and females are slightly larger.

Adults are larger than other Hemileuca maia and the white wing bands are much larger than other H. maia

Diet and Habitat Larvae feed mainly on the plant bog buckbean, which is where they get their name. Adult moths do not feed. These moths are only found in calcareous fens where its primary host plant grows.

These moths have a limited range and are only found in ten colonies throughout the world: six located in Oswego County, NY, and four in eastern Ontario, Canada. In New York, bog buck moths can be found in wetlands sheltered by the eastern Lake Ontario dune network.

Mating Mating season begins around fall when the adult moths emerge. Female buck moths lay one large cluster of eggs on sturdy stems of a variety of plant species. The eggs overwinter and hatch the following spring. The eggs are never laid on the bog buckbean plants because they die back each year making them unable to support the eggs over winter.

Predators The eggs of the bogbean buckmoth are parasitized by the wasp Anastatus furnissi. Eggs are also preyed on by small mammals and invertebrates and may accidentally be ingested by white-tailed deer that eat the plant stems where eggs are laid. Egg predation is also observed from mites. All Hemileuca larvae have spines that can injure some vertebrate predators but do little to no to protect against parasitic flies and wasps.

Fun Fact Due to the rarity of this species, bog buck moths are considered an endangered species in New York.

(Source: Wikipedia; SLELO PRISM; New York Natural Heritage Program; Ontario.ca; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Cortland, NY; Federal Register)

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