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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Owlet Moths and kin (Noctuoidea) » Erebidae » Erebinae » Melipotini » Melipotis » Prolata Melipotis - Hodges#8606 (Melipotis prolata)

Species Melipotis prolata - Prolata Melipotis - Hodges#8606

Classification · Hodges Number · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Remarks · See Also · Internet References

dark moth with white on hindwing - Melipotis prolata

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 Noctuoidea (Owlet Moths and kin)

Family Erebidae

Subfamily Erebinae

Tribe Melipotini

Genus Melipotis

Species prolata (Prolata Melipotis - Hodges#8606)

Hodges Number

8606

Numbers

presumably uncommon, judging from scarcity of Internet records

Size

wingspan about 38 mm, based on specimen by Jim Vargo at MPG

Identification

Adult: forewing of male dark brown inside PM line, and dark gray beyond it, with purplish sheen in fresh specimens (entire wing may look almost black, depending on light); lines indistinct - ST line jagged, AM line a slightly irregular shallow curve; reniform spot large, indistinct, slightly paler toward middle; terminal line composed of several pale dots; hindwing black with large white basal patch and white terminal line, broken in middle by black

female pattern similar but lighter grayish-brown with no black

Range

currently restricted to Florida

Habitat

adults are nocturnal and attracted to light

Season

possibly flies all year in Florida

Food

unknown

Remarks

only one photo and almost no information could be found on this species on the Internet as of April 2006; page creation based on James Adams' identification of this image

See Also

other Melipotis species have more prominent pattern on forewing (see comparison images of several species at MPG)

Internet References

pinned adult image of female by Jim Vargo, plus common name reference (Moth Photographers Group)

pinned adult images of similar species by various photographers (Moth Photographers Group)

US distribution map (Moths of North America, USGS)

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 21 April, 2006 - 5:04pm

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