Monday, September 04, 2023

Morning-glory Plume Moth

I spotted this unusual moth on the side of the house this morning. I had seen a photo of a similar moth recently or I might not have noticed it. The id was confirmed on iNaturalist. As the name suggests, the caterpillars feed on morning glory flowers (which there are plenty of around here). The wings are unusual, they are more like feathers. In this photo they are folded up.

Morning-glory Plume Moth ?

It's interesting that it has one pair of legs folded back against its body. Some spiders do this to look more like harmless six legged insects. But I'm not sure why a moth would. Maybe they just fold them back to be more streamlined when they are flying.

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