Blue Flying Insect
Location: Las Vegas, NV US
September 2, 2010 7:02 pm
I haven’t found this one in any reference I have and have no clue of what it is. I worked around it to pick up the highlights in the body color. Just looking at it normally it was a dark blue to almost purple.
signature: Steve
Hi Steve,
The color on your moth is bordering on ultraviolet. We believe this must be a Western Grape Leaf Skeletonizer, Harrisina metallica, though the color on your specimen is so much more vivid than any of the examples posted to BugGuide.
Daniel,
Thank you for the ID. Yes, the light was perfect in one direction to show the blue. From any other angle it looked more like your specimens. It was very patient and stayed around while I set up a tripod and didn’t fly when I changed angles.
Steve
It surely has earned that species name metallica.