Pero Moth

Description:

This moth of about 1 cm in length is like a stealth plane in appearance with the wings held wrinkled instead of flat. It will land as often with the wings closed as with the wings open. Interestingly, when it lands with the wings closed, they are not wrinkled. In bright sun, the coloring of this moth creates a 3 dimensional effect which would help it blend even better with bark (last picture). Family Geometridae.

Habitat:

Came to an ultraviolet light in the garden, San Cristobal de Las Casas, 2,200 meters.

Notes:

This is a similar species of Pero Moth: http://bugguide.net/node/view/570708. What is interesting is the comments at the bottom of the page, showing what a difficult group this is and the disarray in identification, even using genetic tools. Many believe that this group is phenotypically variable and that many of the species will eventually be found to all be a single species. See also: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/284...