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Project Noah Nature School
Virbia aurantiaca
I found this moth on my screen door and had no idea what it was at first. Then I began searching the internet and found exactly what it was. Orange Holomelinas: The length of the forewings is about 10 mm for males and 9.7 mm for females. The male forewings range from clay to cinnamon. The hindwings are peach red with a raw umber subterminal band. The female forewings range from salmon to cinnamon with a faint olive brown discal spot. The hindwings are peach red with a brown discal spot and brown subterminal markings.
Non-native, Mowed, Recreational Areas, Prairies/Meadows http://observeyourpreserve.org/species/o...
Kingdom Animalia (Animals) Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods) Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods) Class Insecta (Insects) Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths) No Taxon (Moths) Superfamily Noctuoidea Family Erebidae Subfamily Arctiinae (Tiger and Lichen Moths) Tribe Arctiini (Tiger Moths) Subtribe Arctiina Genus Virbia Species aurantiaca (Orange Holomelina - Hodges#8121)
This cool insect is actually not a moth, but a type of Katydid (related to crickets and grasshoppers). Looking closely at the image, you can see the large hind legs for jumping and the distinctive cone on the top of the head (it is pointing forward). I am not sure exactly which species it is, but if you follow the link above, you can search through the images to possibly find a match. It may be difficult since there is only the one picture.
Spotted on Oct 29, 2014
Submitted on Dec 1, 2014
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