Red-Bordered Emerald Moth

Description:

Order: Lepidoptera Family: Geometridae Forewing length: Males- 10.5 - 13 mm. Females- 12 - 15 mm. Identification: Adult: wings pale green, with jagged white AM and PM lines, and red terminal lines, tiny black dots on all wings, fringe checkered red and white, abdominal spots white, ringed with red. ( Melanic specimens brownish-green, with dark brown lines and fringe. ) Range: Coastal New Jersey to Florida, west to eastern Texas and Arkansas. Doesn't reach northern states or Canada. Season: Adults fly from April to June to October. ( two broods ) in the north, all year in the Deep South. Food: Larvae feed on leaves of oak, especially red oaks, such as ( Shumard's Oak ), a species of southern bottom lands.

Habitat:

Deciduous forests.

Notes:

Every morning, around 6:00 a.m., I go outside, to see if there were any insects, resting on the front door, or on the walls, near the front door. One morning, I saw a beautiful green moth, resting on a wall, near the front door. It was resting on a wall, next to the front door. It's wings, were flat against the wall. It was about, three fourths of an inch wide. Wingtip to wingtip. It had two, long, white antennae. It had two compound eyes, and two green forewings. It also had two, green hindwings. The head was a medium purple color. The front legs, was a medium brown and white color. The front legs were banded. Both pairs of wings were green. The thorax was a green color. The abdomen was a green color. There was a white line, going across the front of the forewings. There was abdominal spots, on the abdomen. Some dark brown and medium brown coloring, on the back edges of the forewings and hindwings. Large two color spots, on the abdomen.