On Sept. 11 Phil Chu emailed a suggestion that Ken's photo might show a Virgin Tiger Moth. I replied wondering if Casey's guess of Harnessed Tiger Moth might be the same animal. Thanks to Phil for this Sept. 12 reply to that reply:
"Ric:
I don’t know much about moths, but there is a moth group that Wikipedia names as the Arctiinae.
In that group is the genus Grammia, and the genus Grammia has a lot of species that look more or less like Ken’s moth. Try googling “Grammia images” if you want to see some of them. Looking at those images, I think some more work would be needed to determine which tiger moth is in Ken’s picture – i.e., the moth does look like a virgin tiger moth, but it looks like a bunch of other Grammia tiger moths as well.
In fact, in the Arctiinae are some more genera that also look at least somewhat like Ken’s moth – such as Apantesis, the genus that includes the harnessed tiger moth (Apantesis phalerata). Just as you can google “Grammia images,” so also you can google “Apantesis images.”
To make matters even more confusing, people who study moths have apparently decided that a number of species that were originally in Apantesis should actually be placed in Grammia!
In short, someone with more technical expertise than me – or maybe just with more time – should identify the moth.
Looks like a harnessed tiger moth
ReplyDeleteSure does. Thanks, Casey!
ReplyDeleteOn Sept. 11 Phil Chu emailed a suggestion that Ken's photo might show a Virgin Tiger Moth. I replied wondering if Casey's guess of Harnessed Tiger Moth might be the same animal. Thanks to Phil for this Sept. 12 reply to that reply:
ReplyDelete"Ric:
I don’t know much about moths, but there is a moth group that Wikipedia names as the Arctiinae.
In that group is the genus Grammia, and the genus Grammia has a lot of species that look more or less like Ken’s moth. Try googling “Grammia images” if you want to see some of them. Looking at those images, I think some more work would be needed to determine which tiger moth is in Ken’s picture – i.e., the moth does look like a virgin tiger moth, but it looks like a bunch of other Grammia tiger moths as well.
In fact, in the Arctiinae are some more genera that also look at least somewhat like Ken’s moth – such as Apantesis, the genus that includes the harnessed tiger moth (Apantesis phalerata). Just as you can google “Grammia images,” so also you can google “Apantesis images.”
To make matters even more confusing, people who study moths have apparently decided that a number of species that were originally in Apantesis should actually be placed in Grammia!
In short, someone with more technical expertise than me – or maybe just with more time – should identify the moth.
Phil"