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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Jul 23, 2012 8:30:48 GMT -8
I am sure I have seen this before on bugguide or moth photographers group, but I have spend several hours searching both sites and have came up empty. Any takers? Attachments:
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Post by saturniidave on Jul 23, 2012 16:47:48 GMT -8
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evra
Full Member
Posts: 230
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Post by evra on Jul 23, 2012 18:14:33 GMT -8
Grammia figurata I think, assuming that this was caught east of the Mississippi.
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Jul 24, 2012 2:03:00 GMT -8
Thanks for the assist! I followed the lead over to bugguide and that seems to be the closest match. I love collecting tiger moths, but their variability really does make it difficult to narrow it down sometimes (not to mention the fact that many cannot be fully identified without dissection).
There are a lot of eggs in the container so just out of curiosity, I am going to try to raise some of them. If I succeed, I can see the level of variability in this particular species for myself.
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Post by ladobe on Jul 24, 2012 15:25:48 GMT -8
It's all Grammia figurata to my eye, even without the dosal hindwings or ventral. I did Arctiidae serious for around 25 years, and have reared this species a few times.
Their larva are polyphagous feeders. Medicago and Plantago are usually readily accepted, as is Taraxacum.
evra: This species is resident way west of the Mississippi FYI. I've reared them from stock I collected in CO a couple of times.
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evra
Full Member
Posts: 230
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Post by evra on Jul 24, 2012 16:37:18 GMT -8
I know. The forewings on G. f-pallida look quite similar, so you might mistake it without any collection data. The point I was getting at is that G. f-pallida is not found east of the Mississippi to my knowledge, which leaves only G. figurata.
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Aug 16, 2012 22:05:04 GMT -8
I figured that I would give an update on the eggs that were laid. They hatched and I wound up with a whole lot of caterpillars. I pulled them out of their container and put them in a smaller one while I cleaned out the one I keep them in. While they were bunched up together I snapped a quick shot. When I get them back in their main container, I will pull one out and try to get an individual shot. Attachments:
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Aug 16, 2012 22:28:09 GMT -8
Here is the individual caterpillar that I pulled out for the shot. It is approximately 23mm long. Attachments:
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