Unknown Small Diurnal Moth from Wisconsin is White Striped Black

danielj

April 5th, 2008 at 12:00 am

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moth or butterfly, Northern Wisconsin
The enclosure is a pic. of a lep I’ve never seen before,– going back to 1934 ! Location: 1 1/2 miles N. of Mountain Wisc.( zip 54149), near the Oconto River. (About halfway between Green Bay and Wausau.) Date: July 28, 2007. The impression I got was very much that of a butterfly, but the antennae taper perfectly smoothly to a point without any clubbing or curling. Also, the thoracic exoskeleton seemed not as strong as I would expect in a butterfly this size, say a Blue or a Checkerspot. Nor did the flight seem as powerful as one expects of a butterfly. It holds its wings up together over its back butterfly style, dipping them ocasionally, as in the photo. In my experience, it is unique! I hope you can tell me what it is. Thanks.
John A.L.Osborn
Hey! You must like bugs, so you’ll enjoy many of my Escher-like tilings of leps, hemips and coleops on my art website www.ozbird.net Lotsa pages maybe 200 + tilings, Enjoy

unknown diurnal moth wisco Unknown Small Diurnal Moth from Wisconsin is White Striped Black

Hi John,
We can narrow this down to being a moth, but we cannot tell you the species. The Moth Photographers Group has an excellent site, but that might take us hours to locate your specimen and that would cut into time we don’t have to try to post just a few letters. If one of our readers knows this species or identifies this species, perhaps we will get a response.

Update: (04/09/2008)
Hi, Daniel:
I wanted to give a little help on two identifications. The moth in question is the white-striped black moth, Trichodezia albovittata, a common day-flying moth at this time of year in the understory of hardwood forests. Hope that helps.
Eric