Subject: Horned spanworm moth and large maple spanworm moth
Location: Troy, VA
June 26, 2016 11:02 am
Given my horrible guess on the last moth, I hesitate to say I know what these are, but I spent a lot of time at the Discover Life website comparing photos, so I can say with reasonable certainty that I have a photo of a horned spanworm moth. I’m not quite as certain about the large maple spanworm moth, but I found images that were very similar so I’m going to give it an 85% certainty. Fingers crossed. I do love their amazing leaf mimicry.
thanks
Signature: Grace Pedalino
Dear Grace,
Leaf-mimicking, brownish Spanworm Moths in the family Geometridae can be extremely difficult to identify to the species level, and we often avoid such specifics, preferring a general family identification. We agree that one of your moths is possibly the Horned Spanworm Moth, Nematocampa resistaria, based on images posted to BugGuide. We are not convinced that your second moth is a Large Maple Spanworm. We believe it looks more like the Curve-Toothed Geometer, Eutrapela clemataria, a species also pictured on BugGuide. In both cases, we wish someone with more experience determining the species of Spanworm moths would weigh in on an identification.
Looking at the link you posted for the Eutrapela clemataria, I’d say you were absolutely right. Oh well, 50% isn’t terrible since I know nothing about moths. I’ve discovered that my kitchen window delivers me a different moth every night so I am having a great time photographing them and trying to figure out what they are. I’m trying hard not to bombard you with images, but I think I have a photo of a marathyssa moth. Would it be OK for me to send it?
You are doing great Grace. You may send as many images as you like, but we cannot guarantee we will be able to identify everything.
Thank you very much. I’ll do my best to identify as much as I can before I send photos. I know you must be swamped.