Hi Ron, thanks for pointing me to this species and its congeners. I've been looking at all of the images in the BG gallery and am wondering if mine might better fit E. festiva for the following reasons:

1) On your page for E. stigmatica, Dennis Haines described the wing pattern for that species as "when coming forward from the terminal "V" you have a band followed by a grouping of three close together." If I am interpreting this correctly, the pattern (on the forward edge) on mine appears to lack the "three close together", instead having a thin one and a thick one spaced where the "three close together" should be.

2) The wing pattern in the BG gallery photo of E. festiva from a county (Fayette) just east of the one where I took mine (Chickasaw) looks a lot like mine: .

However, I'm no expert, so have moved my image to the Euaresta genus as a place-holder. I'll echo your comment of "Confirmation or correction welcomed!"

I also think this is likely E. festiva

Sometimes this can make a big difference in ID. I'm pretty sure we're right on genus but, if I remember correctly, species identification is particularly tough with Euaresta. Here's hoping!

The specimen landed on my notebook and stayed there during my whole visit, so unfortunately I did not observe it on a plant. The BF Info table for E. festiva identifies the larval host plant as giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida), which was present in abundance on the edges of the prairie strip I was visiting (in fact, I had been called to this site to help settle a boundary dispute about how much giant ragweed there was and whose responsibility it was to control it!).

The BG Info tab for E. bella indicates the host plant as small ragweed (A. artemisiifolia), which was also present, though less abundant at this site. Cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium) is listed as the host plant for E. aequalis; I did not actually see this plant here, but it could have also been present. Thus, no clear differentiation based solely on nearby plants is possible here.

Thanks again, Ron!