I hope someday to meet an adult of this handsome caterpillar; the adult banded tussock moth (Halysidota tessellaris) is equally handsome, with light brown, outlined/checkered stripes on a light background, perhaps with a hint of blue and yellow on the body, the whole insect looking a lot like an art deco stained glass window. Tessellaris…
Tag: Arctiinae
Ornate Bella Moth
The most common name for this moth (Utetheisa ornatrix) seems to be the ornate bella moth, but my favorite is “rattlebox moth”. Apparently there’s a whole family of plants (Crotalaria) which produce seed pods that rattle if shaken, and this little moth loves to eat them. Crotalaria contain alkaloids which make the moths, and their…
Black-Winged Dahana
The black-winged dahana, Dahana atripennis, is an inch-long, primarily black moth with a red abdomen, orange head, iridescent blue thorax, and two yellow stripes on its black wings. As far as I can tell from photos on bugguide.net, both sexes have those long, attractive, black feathered antennae (or all photos on bigguide.net are of males!)….
Saltmarsh Moth Caterpillar
This little fellow is (very probably) a Saltmarsh Moth caterpillar (Estigmene acrea), but again this is one of those “identifications” wherein this could also be any one of a number of closely related species. Below, an earlier instar salt marsh moth caterpillar does an amazing yoga pose: The just-hatched caterpillars are mostly yellow, with little…