Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar
Upcoming Events

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

National Moth Week was July 23-31, 2022! See moth submissions.

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2018 gathering in Virginia, July 27-29

Photos of insects and people from the 2015 gathering in Wisconsin, July 10-12


Previous events


TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Species Sthenopis pretiosus - Gold-spotted Ghost Moth - Hodges#0022

Moth- what kind? - Sthenopis pretiosus Gold-spotted Ghost Moth - Sthenopis pretiosus Gold-spotted Ghost Moth - Sthenopis pretiosus Sthenopis auratus – Gold-spotted Ghost Moth, Hancock NY - Sthenopis pretiosus  Sthenopis auratus  - Sthenopis pretiosus Sthenopis pretiosus Sthenopis pretiosus Sthenopis pretiosus - Gold-spotted Ghost Moth - Hodges#0022 - Sthenopis pretiosus
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Hepialoidea (Ghost Moths)
Family Hepialidae (Ghost Moths)
Genus Sthenopis
Species pretiosus (Gold-spotted Ghost Moth - Hodges#0022)
Hodges Number
0022
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Previously Sthenopis auratus (Grote, 1878), synonymized with S. pretiosus (Herrich-Schaffer, [1856]) in C. Mielke & Grehan (2015).
Size
wingspan 60-70 mm
Identification
forewing yellowish-brown with 3 small gold spots in subterminal area, a larger single spot in the medial area, and 3 more small gold spots forming an antemedial (AM) line near the base; PM line represented by an indistinct whitish, pinkish, or silvery band overlaid with small angular patches; top of head and thorax dark gray to blackish
hindwing light yellowish-orange and unmarked
Range
northeastern United States and southeastern Canada
See Also
other Sthenopis species are larger and lack the distinctive pattern of gold spots on the forewing
Print References
Mielke CG, Grehan JR (2015) Description of a new species of Phassus Walker, 1856 from Costa Rica, Pallas, gen. n., with a new species from Guatemala, and taxonomic notes on Sthenopis Packard, [1865] (Lepidoptera, Hepialidae). Thee European Entomologist 7(4): 113–134.
Internet References
live adult image (Al Sinclair, Ontario)
pinned adult images of male and female [by James Adams] and live mating pair [by Dave Wagner] (Dalton State College, Georgia)
pinned adult image (Canadian Forest Service)
pinned adult image (Barbara Strnadova, New York)