Hypocala Moth

Description:

Size: wingspan 43-49 mm, based on two Internet photos at bugguide.net. Adult: forewing brown to gray with diffuse speckling; reniform spot either dark gray or barely noticeable; ST line composed of two joined arcs, touching outer margin at the point where they join; small pale patch may be present in terminal area near anal angle, and also midway along inner margin; hindwing black with large irregular yellow or orange pattern on inner half, and partial terminal band of the same color.

Habitat:

Range: South and Central America, Mexico, and southern United States from California to Florida but apparently most common in Texas. An irregular wanderer farther north, occasionally to mid-latitude states, and rarely to northern states and southern Ontario. Season: adults most often seen in late summer and fall in United States Food: larvae feed on leaves of persimmon (Diospyros spp.) in the tropics.

Notes:

This is a porch light visitor. The first shot is blurry to show how when it's wings are open to expose this color, it is on full guard and flutters it's wings at anything that poses a threat. Since the markings look like a face, I'm guessing that it is to mimic something larger in motion. It really isn't easy to catch these off guard and if you do, then the colors are not visible as pictured in the finale take at full rest when it finally realized that I was just there to take up space and posed no threat.