In my never ending quest for knowledge I just had to know what this little moth was that showed up this week on my screen door. Reaching for a field guide I found it is a Chickweed Geometer,
Haematopis grataria. It can be identified by the orange or yellow wings with pink stripes and discal spots. You should click on the photo for the large version to check out the funky antennae.
According to
A Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America
by Charles V. Covell Jr. it feeds on chickweed, clovers, knotweed, smartweeds and other low plants. For those of you that actually click that link, yes, copies of this small field guide sell for about $50! Supply and demand I guess.
~Kirk
3 comments:
That moth is awesome!
My dog ate a moth that got in last week. I wonder if that counts as protein. Hmmm. It wasn't nearly so pretty. I tried to photograph it before the feast but lighting wasn't good.
Wow, our Cat is a champion moth hunter when they get in the house. He can swat them down and eat them with some skill but our dog could not care less. There have been some incredible moths this year but my camera never seems to be handy.
How pretty. We saw a hawk moth by our front door recently, which was a breathtaking experience. Unfortunately my camera's memory card was full due to taking video that day, and while trying to clear items my battery ran out of power! (I definitely need a backup battery.)
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