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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Many-plume Moths (Alucitoidea) » Many-plume Moths (Alucitidae) » Alucita

Photo#884532

Copyright © 2014 Lynn Murphy

Feathery Moth - Alucita

Chassell, Houghton County, Michigan, USA
September 10, 2013

This moth came to my porch light at 1:30 a.m. It reminds me of an owl feather. The fringes look very soft.
My yard is left to grow wild to attract insects and wildlife. It is full of blackberry brambles. Trees
growing around the yard are Paper and Yellow Birch, Red Maple, White Spruce, White Pine and Poplar. The
location is in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan near Lake Superior.

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Contributed by Lynn Murphy on 15 January, 2014 - 11:54pm

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Nice picture. I would like to see one!

… A. Hendrickson, 16 January, 2014 - 9:24am

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Alucita

Moved from ID Request.

Do you have a forewing length? Hopefully the location will allow placement to species. Genus level for now.
Thank you

… Maury J. Heiman, 16 January, 2014 - 12:19am

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Alucita

Thank you for responding. Unfortunately, I don't have a forewing length. How do you measure moths without disturbing them?

… Lynn Murphy, 16 January, 2014 - 12:43am

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Measuring moths

I think I get reasonably accurate measurements of moths on outside surfaces by holding a small plastic ruler close to the moth: some don't like it, however, and fly away. A non-disturbing way is to use background features as markers that you can measure later: unless they are regularly spaced like a grid, this requires that you know exactly where the moth has been resting - visually inspecting the place and taking notes helps.

… Peter Homann, 16 January, 2014 - 11:23am

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Measuring Moths

Thank you Peter. I'll try that. I like the non-disturbing approach
the best, but I realize that measuring with a ruler is more accurate.

… Lynn Murphy, 16 January, 2014 - 12:38pm

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I don't know much about moths

I don't know much about moths, but they seem pretty immune to disturbance unless they are in your car and you're trying to get them out.

… W. Steffens, 16 January, 2014 - 8:43am

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Some moths certainly are easy

Some moths certainly are easy to approach, but I recently ran into a Crambid which I tried to photograph--it wouldn't let me closer than six feet without flying away. I think it probably varies.

… Even Dankowicz, 11 May, 2015 - 12:43pm

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