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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Flannel, Slug Caterpillar, Leaf Skeletonizer Moths and kin (Zygaenoidea) » Leaf Skeletonizer Moths (Zygaenidae) » Procridinae » Pyromorpha » Orange-patched Smoky Moth - Hodges#4639 (Pyromorpha dimidiata)

Species Pyromorpha dimidiata - Orange-patched Smoky Moth - Hodges#4639

Classification · Hodges Number · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited

Orange-patched Smoky Moth - Pyromorpha dimidiata

MothOrange_patchedSmoky_Pyromorpha_dimidiata06012020_AC_0621 - Pyromorpha dimidiata

Orange-patched Smoky Moth - Dorsal - Pyromorpha dimidiata

Insect to porch light - Pyromorpha dimidiata

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 Zygaenoidea (Flannel, Slug Caterpillar, Leaf Skeletonizer Moths and kin)

Family Zygaenidae (Leaf Skeletonizer Moths)

Subfamily Procridinae

Genus Pyromorpha

Species dimidiata (Orange-patched Smoky Moth - Hodges#4639)

Hodges Number

4639

Size

Wingspan 18-28 mm

Identification

Day-flying. Wings black, translucent, basal half of forewing orange. Note that inner margin of forewing is black, orange in rather similar Lycomorpha. Also note phenology: Pyromorpha flies in early summer, Lycomorpha in late summer, fall.

Range

Eastern and central North America

Habitat

Deciduous forests and nearby fields, presumably

Season

May-July

Food

The solitary larva "lives beneath the fallen leaves in oak woods, feeding on the dead and decaying leaves." (Dyar, 1897)

Adults take nectar.

Life Cycle

Adults likely mimics of Lycid beetles, but also reported to have chemical defenses of their own.

See Also

Black-and-yellow Lichen Moth--Lycomorpha pholus

See also the presumed model of the mimicry, the Lycid beetles of genus Calopteron.

Print References

Covell, p. 414, plate 57 #4 (1)

Dyar, H.G., 1897. Life History of Pyromorpha dimidiata H. S. Psyche 8: 128–129.

Internet References

Maryland Moths

MPG

Works Cited

1.	Peterson Field Guides: Eastern Moths Charles V. Covell. 1984. Houghton Mifflin Company.

Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Beatriz Moisset, Blocky
Last updated 28 January, 2021 - 3:00pm

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