Thank you for your nice reply. Before I posted this one I had read that the host plant was Sweetbay and since I have one in my yard and a friend that lives close by has many in his, I thought it might be a possibility. It certainly is a beautiful moth and came the second night but was showing a lot of wear. Any possibility their range might expand this way? Surely would be nice.

The fact it was a night flier is also indicative of angulifera.

The movement of plants is always a vehicle for insect movement, however, in this case, securifera tends to be a bit less tolerant of the cold endured by angulifera.

I have collected across much of the southeast and securifera is certainly the more restricted by habitat and range than are the other 2 (angulifera and promethia). I have taken securifera from Florida north into central Alabama & Mississippi east across the lower 2/3rds of Georgia and along the Carolinas in the eastern 1/3rd of both NC & SC....never very close to TN along any of the border states.


Unfortunately for many, the similarity of appearance makes id difficult....the fact they rarely cross doesn't help either ;)