Subject: Grapeleaf Skeletonizer?
Location: coastal North Carolina
July 18, 2017 9:46 am
These small moths were feeding from mountain mint and rattlesnake master on July 15th. I suspect they are Harrisina americana, the grapeleaf skeletonizer, but a friend from the facebook group “Pollinators on Native Plants” suggested they might be the orange-collared scape moth, Cisseps fulvicollus. Since I do have a few grapevines in the yard, I suspected the former, and I don’t believe the latter species habitat range extends to this region. Thanks for any input.
Signature: Dave Hobbs
Dear Dave,
You and just about everyone in North America lives within the range of the Orange-Collared Scape Moth according to BugGuide data, however, we agree with you that these are Grapeleaf Skeletonizer Moths based on this and other BugGuide images. The BugGuide description is: “wings narrow, completely black, held spread out and away from body at rest; collar orange/red, complete (not broken, as in Clemen’s False Skeletonizer); tip of abdomen has prominent tufts of scales; antennae pectinate in both sexes, and plumose in male.”
