Williams Tiger Moth?
Location: Roxborough, CO
July 16, 2011 8:02 pm
Hi WTB! You have many beautiful Tiger Moths on your website, but I didn’t see the Williams Tiger Moth – Grammia williamsii. My sister found this one on her porch today, in the prairie foothills southwest of Denver. At least I THINK it’s a Williams Tiger Moth… am I right?
Signature: Katie

Williams' Tiger Moth, we believe

Dear Katie,
The markings on your Tiger Moth look very similar to the markings on the photographs of the Williams’ Tiger Moth, Grammia williamsii, that are posted on BugGuide, and BugGuide has data indicating that there have been sightings in Colorado, however, according to BugGuide, there are 38 species in the genus Grammia in North America as well as numerous subspecies.  Since many of the Tiger Moths in the genus Grammia look quite similar, this may be a near relative of the Williams’ Tiger Moth.

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mystery moth
Location: Hoquiam, Washington, The United States
July 11, 2011 4:54 pm
My 9 year old daughter Phoenix caught this specimen. She tells me it’s not in Acorn and Sheldon’s ”Bugs of Washington and Oregon”. Can anyone identify this moth?
Signature: Kelly & Phoenix Fire Hogaboom

Spotted Tussock Moth

Dear Kelly and Phoenix Fire,
This is a Spotted Tussock Moth, Lophocampa maculata, and though it is a far ranging species, the closest matching image we could find on bugGuide was also from Washington.

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Please Identify This
Location: Malaybalay City Bukidnon, Mindanao, Philippines
June 20, 2011 12:30 am
Hello, I have seen this small tiny flying creature in our Backyard and in some of my friends backyards. I want to know if this is a moth or a butterfly and what kind of a specie it is. Took this picture for my 365project (http://www.365project.org/altadc). Thank you so much.
Signature: Alta

Mating Tiger Moths

Hi Alta,
We originally believed these might be Wasp Moths or Clearwings in the family Sesiidae.  The mating pair demonstrates dramatic sexual dimorphism.  We tried searching the family and Philippines, and immediately found a match on TrekNature that agrees with our family identification, and a comment provides this species name: Amata heubneri, and indicates it is a Tiger Moth in the subfamily Arctiinae.  Then things get really confusing.  The Butterfly House website has images of a mating pair of Amata heubneri that do not exhibit the sexual dimorphism.  We are relatively confident that these are diurnal Tiger Moths in the subfamily Arctiinae, but we may need additional time on the species ID.

Diurnal Tiger Moth

Julian Donahue, noted Arctiid Expert, provides some information
Beautiful and fascinating photo. Using the “old” classification, this is in the tiger-moth family Arctiidae, subfamily Ctenuchinae, and a member of the Old World group of genera. It is NOT Amata huebneri, but rather the male appears to be Ceryx flaviplagia, described from Mindanao by Hampson in 1898, or something very close to it. The female, however, may represent sexual dimorphism (common in this group) or an extreme melanic individual (also fairly common). It is very likely that the female was described as a distinct, separate, species, because it is so different from the male (also a very common occurrence, a confusion usually not resolved until mating observations such as this one provide evidence that two “species” are actually the same species, or “conspecific.” In fact, the female looks very similar to illustrations I have seen of a moth, described from the female only, as Ceryx chea Druce; the fact that it was also described from Mindanao makes the possibility of conspecificity even more likely.
Be aware, however, that I am working from very old references, and I am not conversant with the latest knowledge about Old World ctenuchines, so further verification and research are necessary to confirm the identification and, more importantly, whether the possibility of conspecificity of these two “species” has been previously reported. This is really exciting stuff that should be pursued further.
Julian

Moths?
Location: Oxford UK
June 19, 2011 11:12 am
I think this a moth but not one I’ve seen before.
Photo taken afternoon in June 2011 in Oxford, UK, on Clematis.
I’m holding one wing out to show the red one underneath. It has a red lined body too. (Not sure why it put up with this indignity!)
Size is around 4cm long.
Signature: Tony Roberts

Scarlet Tiger

Dear Tony,
The best place to identify Moths from the UK is the UK Moths website, where we quickly identified your moth as a Scarlet Tiger, Callimorpha dominula.  This diurnal species is relatively unique among the Tiger Moths, because, according to the UK Moths site:  “It is one of the few tiger moths with developed mouthparts, allowing it to feed on nectar.”

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