Unknown Moth from Costa Rica

bugman

January 25th, 2011 at 9:58 am

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Costa Rican Geometrid/Bad-wing? Moth by La Paz Waterfall Garden
Location: Costa Rica
January 23, 2011 12:54 am
Hi. I shot a photo of a moth last May (May 10, 2010) of a moth which reminded me of a geometrid in shape,or very similar to a Dyspteris but with metallic Blue/Green forewing and black hindwing. The trailing edge of all 4 wings is cream colored. The body is ”fuzzy” and orange and the antennae are whiplike, not feathery. It was located on a railing near a light close to where I was eating breakfast on the ”Orchid Terrace” Restaurant. The surrounding environs were open field and secondary cloud forest with an altitude of about 1400-1600 meters above sea level. I was at La Paz Waterfall Gardens. Their Lat and Long are:Latitude 10.12.6.28 N
Longitude 84.9.41.23 W
Signature: Joyous C, Long Island, NY

Unknown Moth from Costa Rica

Dear Joyous,
We haven’t the time to research this at the moment, but perhaps one of our readers will provide an answer and comment while we are at work today.

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Comments 3

lttlechkn wrote:
Not sure, but possibly Pyrrhopyge phidias (Common name Phidias Firetip). The specimens I could find photographs of were a bit more red than orange on the head/abdomen but it was the closest match I could find.
Posted 26 Jan 2011 at 4:58 am ¶
bugman wrote:
Thanks, but the Phidias Firetip is a skipper, not a moth. It is not correct.
Posted 26 Jan 2011 at 8:21 am ¶
lttlechkn wrote:
I do understand that the Firetip is a skipper as opposed to a moth, however the ID requests states that the antennae were whip-like as opposed to feathery, which is why I thought it may be plausible. I also realized later after posting the comment that the feet of this particular specimen are orange as well, so while it isn’t the Firetip, maybe a close relative.
Posted 26 Jan 2011 at 12:44 pm ¶