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Photo#1495525
Virbia brood siblings - Virbia aurantiaca

Virbia brood siblings - Virbia aurantiaca
Pine Brook, Isanti County, Minnesota, USA
Size: WS 21-27mm
I have linked these as brood siblings; it is unclear if the caterpillar shown produced an adult, much less one shown here. All shown eclosed about September 29, having apparently failed to enter normal diapause. Labelling is ambiguous, but lower-right most might be parent female. Amount of ventral 'show-through' of dark markings is highly variable, as shown in third photo. And, one might wonder what effect batch rearing might have on adult phenotype variation.

Images of this individual: tag all
Virbia aurantiaca Virbia brood siblings - Virbia aurantiaca Virbia brood siblings - Virbia aurantiaca

Moved
Moved from Virbia.

Nice display of variation in this species. Also intresting to note the degree of variation among the specimens with regards to the ventral surfaces. I've heard the lack of dark markings mirrored on the ventral surface mentioned as a mark to look for for V. nigricans, but clearly that isn't enough in and of itself to call something that species.

 
Thank you, Paul; I appreciate
Thank you, Paul; I appreciate the help!

Moved
Moved from Butterflies and Moths. Paul Dennehy recently went through these. You may want to ask him to take a look.

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

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