Species Palpita freemanalis - Freeman's Palpita Moth - Hodges#5225

5225

Palpita freemanalis Munroe, 1952

wingspan about 20-22 mm

This species has two rather sharply distinct forms. In one the ground color is gray and the dark markings fuscous; in the other the ground color is white and the dark markings bright orange. Intermediate forms sometimes occur. The gray form predominates in winter, the white one in summer. (1)

Texas, Oklahoma to Maryland

"Brian Scholtens hedged just a little due to Steve's location (a bit further north than available data indicated) while pointing positively to this species designation. Afterward, Bob Patterson found on Larry Line's website a specimen photo by John Glaser of a moth taken at Great Falls VA/MD, just upstream on the Potomac River from Washington, DC. This is about 100 miles north of Steve's locality, although many miles to the east of it. Finding moths a couple of hundred miles outside previously known range, especially in the case of species that are seldomly encountered, is not unusual".(John and Jane Balaban)

Type locality: USA, Texas.

Hodges, Ronald W. (ed.), 1983; Check List of the Lepidoptera of America North of Mexico.(2)

Munroe, E. G. 1952 a: The illibalis-group of the genus Palpita Hübner (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). – The Canadian Entomologist, Ottawa 84: 43-55. (1)

Moth Photographers Group - species page with photographs of living and pinned adults.

Moth Photographers Group - photographs of pinned adults and related species for comparison.

Brackenridge Field Laboratory at the University of Texas, Austin - recorded in central Texas

Moths of Oklahoma Checklist (PDF) - recorded in Oklahoma.