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Photo#1238339
Orange-tipped oakworm moth ? - Anisota senatoria - female

Orange-tipped oakworm moth ? - Anisota senatoria - Female
Woodstock, Cherokee County, Georgia, USA
June 8, 2016
Size: > 1 inch long (female)
Several Anisota moths are similar - could someone confirm or correct the ID as A. senatoria? I'll attach a photo of the mating pair. I'm north of Atlanta. thanks in advance ...

Images of this individual: tag all
Orange-tipped oakworm moth ? - Anisota senatoria - female Orange-tipped oakworm moth?  mating pair - Anisota senatoria - male - female

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

I think it's safe to call this senatoria. The other species contender in the piedmont area of GA would be peigleri, but you shouldn't see peigleri until later in the season, so given the date and location, it's a pretty solid bet that these are senatoria.

 
Ansisota senatoria
According to the lepidopterists I've spoken to, A. senatoria doesn't occur in Georgia, only A. peigleri. They say it's southern range ends somewhere around the southern border of Kentucky and Virginia. James Adams is one of the sources if you would like to confirm.

 
Hard to say
We have some conflicting data, so it's hard to say. We do have positively identified senatoria in GA (several DNA sequenced), so I'm hesitant to say that it simply doesn't occur in GA. For this specimen, the following 2 factors would put weight on the scale for senatoria:

a) It's a bit too early for peigleri.
b) It's in the Piedmont region, which is really the most southern region in GA that it's been confirmed.

Now I believe Dave Wagner has said peigleri replaces senatoria south of NC, but there's a good possibility that these upper GA Piedmont specimens are in an overlap zone, part of a bleed-over of the southern NC population. It's also possible (though I don't know how probable) that all the GA senatoria identified specimens, including those sequenced, are erroneous IDs. I have my doubts that that's the case, but it's not impossible. It's been quite a few years since I tackled this genus, but that's at least the rationale behind the current placement.

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