Subject: What in the name of all that is holy…
Location: Atlanta, GA
March 12, 2015 7:24 pm
Well, we had a few warm days for early march, even saw some grasshoppers oustide. Saw this thing on why house. My first thought was “How does that even work?”
Signature: Caleb
Dear Caleb,
This distinctive insect is a Plume Moth in the family Pterophoridae, but we are not certain of the species. The wings form the top bar of the letter T, and we frequently get requests to identify T-Bugs.
A question rather than a comment guys. Do you know how many plume moths are coloured rather than just white or grey as most seem to be?
Hi Trevor,
Most Plume Moths are white or very drably colored, though some have intricate markings. We have never seen an image of a brightly colored Plume Moth.
Hi guys. I thought brightly coloured ones might be rare. I got a photo of one from Australia that is brightly russet coloured. It is the only known photo of a living specimen of a very rare species, it took the experts weeks to figure out what it was, and is on the Atlas of Living Australia website here. Feel free to grab it for your archive if you wish.
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:4b6288ed-6fd0-4ad3-97cb-310ddfed3899