Moth'ers, Last night I had a really cool Noctuid in the subfamily Heliothinae, Pyrrhia exprimens (Purple-lined Sallow) 11064. I've also attached a photo of one of my absolute favorite moths, Habrosyne scripta (Lettered Habrosyne) 6235, taken last night at my house. With the help of Bo Sullivan, I also had the great fortune of capturing Habrosyne gloriosa (Glorious Habrosyne) 6236 at a nearby nature preserve on Monday night. I'd never seen gloriosa. The two species are very similar; gloriosa has a sharp 90 degree bend in the am line whereas scripta has a more step-like bend. Gloriosa (at least this particular individual) has a pinkish background tint which I've never seen on scripta. The foodplants are different as well: scripta feeds on purple-flowering raspberry and gloriosa specializes on ninebark. Both plants occur almost exclusively in the mountains. I've attached photos of both for comparison purposes. I've also attached a photo of the homemade moth trap that Bo Sullivan designed and we used last weekend. Good mothing, -- J. Merrill Lynch Echo Valley Farm Watauga County, NC Elevation: 3,400 feet
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11064 Pyrrhia exprimens (1).JPG
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6235 Habrosyne scripta.JPG
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6236 Habrosyne gloriosa.JPG
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Moth trap.JPG
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