moth - Decantha stecia - BugGuide.Net

Thanks Bob

I find these micro moths the most interesting. It was too small to see any pattern with the naked eye, but when magnified it's a real beauty.

… tom murray, 26 July, 2007 - 7:53am

Whet Your Appetite for Them

Now that I have a walk-in live trap (the Moth Taj Majal) I am able to discover dozens of these tiny species. Keep an eye on this page for them. I'm not posting the link here because I am proud of my photos -- they are barely passable -- but to encourage others who have good camera equipment and technique to reveal this part of the moth world to us. With my camera I can only make a 3mm moth large enough to fill 40% of my 225 pixel window size. 4mm jobs come in at about 60% and 5mm moths almost fill the window. One only gets to see a glimpse of the beautifully detailed design/coloration of these species.

As in your case here, a fine photo of one of these micromoths is quite apt to be a first-of-species for the Internet, BG.N and MPG. And, more important than the fact that it contributes toward a standard of excellence, it helps to build our open-access library of information about moths to the benefit of everyone.

… Bob Patterson, 26 July, 2007 - 2:35pm

Bob,

you have quite a few nice little moth pictures that need identifying, and it sounds like that's going to increase. The quality of your photos is better than you admit.
My pictures wouldn't be much use if you didn't identify them for me.

… tom murray, 26 July, 2007 - 7:15pm

1043 -- Decantha stecia

Very few specimens were known to Hodges when he described this species in 1974, but the type series is from Martha's Vinyard in Massachusetts, and it is also known from 2000 ft. elevation in South Carolina. Not many people collect 3mm moths. Along the East Coast only two species of Decantha are known: D. boreasella with a wing length of 4-5mm, and D. stecia at 3.0-3.5mm. Based on size this has to be D. stecia. Too little is known about differences in visible markings which are variable in both species. Fantastik Foto!

… Bob Patterson, 26 July, 2007 - 3:09am

Thanks Machele

It definitely looks like one of the Decantha moths.

… tom murray, 25 July, 2007 - 3:57pm

Decantha?

This reminds me of something in Decantha here.

… Machele White, 25 July, 2007 - 9:29am