Subject: Florida moth/butterfly
Geographic location of the bug: Vero beach Florida
Date: 12/19/2017
Time: 06:40 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: I cannot seem to find the identity of these two. Picture was taken during mating, then aftwr they separated.
How you want your letter signed: Rob Kellar
Dear Rob,
We are currently going through old requests that arrived while our editorial staff was away for the holidays, and we are attempting to catch up on some old identifications and posting those that will be of greatest interest to our readership. These are mating Tussock Moths in the genus Orgyia. The image with the single individual depicts the male, the gender that is capable of flight and that has very plumose antennae to better enable him to locate the flightless, sedentary female that emerges from pupation and releases pheromones. Based on this BugGuide image, we believe you might have encountered White Marked Tussock Moths, Orgyia leucostigma. Interestingly, the wings on the female in your image are more developed than the usual vestigial wings we have seen pictured in other examples posted on the internet.
