[tn-moths] Blount FOY

  • From: Rikki Hall <sourpersimmon@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: tn-moths@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:26:42 -0400

Based on Rich Hailey's IDs and some BugGuide affirmation:

4/9/10

Marathyssa basalis 8956
Plagodis fervidaria 6843
Metarranthis obfirmaria 6832
Telphusa longifasciella 1858
Selenia kentaria 6818

Another is Lambdina sp
I still need help with this
one<http://www.bluemelon.com/photo/12393/491332.jpg>,
which has a Eupithecia sp and an intricately striped critter.

I really like the Marathyssa, and it was back last night, along with several
new moths and the year's first long-horned beetle, a tiny one. A fat, clumsy
beetle was flying last night, another foy. And the April firefly!

Marathyssa folds its wings like curtains, making them narrow and smaller in
profile, and it tucks its hindwing out under the forewing. These are both
traits I associate with sphinx moths, along with powerful flight, stiff,
long forewings, a thorax big enough to drive those wings and a tendency to
curl their abdomen. Obviously, sphinx is not the right name; I just use it
because they best exemplify the suite of traits I see in all these moths. I
think the Selenia, Metarranthis and their tribe, Anagogini are closer to
Bombycoidea than Geometroidea. Also, Marathyssa and the Euteliidae family
fit better near Bombycoidea than Noctuoidea. I know I am wrong to call them
sphinx moths, but it is no more wrong than incoherent spattering of
superfamilies across Lepidoptera ;)

I suppose I should also mention that I think Saturniidae belongs in
Noctuoidea, not Bombycoidea. They have big, powerful thoraxes, obviously,
but they lack the "sphinx" gestalt.

Rikki Hall
Rockford, Tenn

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