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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths (Geometroidea) » Geometrid Moths (Geometridae) » Ennominae » Boarmiini » Melanchroia » White-tipped Black - Hodges#6616 (Melanchroia chephise)

Species Melanchroia chephise - White-tipped Black - Hodges#6616

Classification · Hodges Number · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
Melanchroia chephise - White-tipped Black - Hodges#6616 - Melanchroia chephise Another moth - Melanchroia chephise orange and dark blue daylight-flying moth - Melanchroia chephise Life cycle of a White-tipped Black: second instar - Melanchroia chephise Life cycle of a White-tipped Black: fifth instar - Melanchroia chephise White-tipped Black Moth Larva - Melanchroia chephise Moth - Melanchroia chephise White-tipped Black Moth - Melanchroia chephise
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 Geometroidea (Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths)
Family Geometridae (Geometrid Moths)
Subfamily Ennominae
Tribe Boarmiini
Genus Melanchroia
Species chephise (White-tipped Black - Hodges#6616)
Hodges Number
6616
Other Common Names
Snowbush spanworm. (1)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Melanchroia chephise (Cramer)
Orig. Comb: Phalaena chephise Cramer, 1782
genus listed as 'Melanochroia' in Hodges et al 1983(2) but corrected to Melanchroia in Parsons et al 1999.
Size
Wingspan: 33mm (MPG)(3)
Identification
The adult's white-tipped black wings are distinctive.
Range
Florida and southern Great Plains, south to Paraguay / W. Indies - Map - (MPG)(4)
Has strayed to Utah(5), Arizona, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, and Illinois, primarily in 2007 which was a phenomenal year for the moth. (Several of these are new state records.)
Habitat
Reaches its greatest abundance along the coastal plains of Texas and Florida.
Season
Heppner (2003) reported January to December for Florida to Texas. (1)
Strays reported September to December in other states. (3)
Food
Heppner (2003) listed several host plants, mostly in the Euphorbiaceae (1)
Euphorbiaceae
Breynia nivosa (snow bush)
Euphorbia marginata (snow on the mountain)
Phyllanthus acidus (Tahitian gooseberry tree)
P. angustifolius (foliage flower)
Amaranthaceae
Amaranthus tricolor (Joseph's-coat)
Rutaceae
Casimiroa edulis (white sapote)
Life Cycle
Click on an image to view the whole life cycle in more detail:
Remarks
irruptive sp., see 2007 Outbreak in Oklahoma compiled by John Fisher
also see BG records from AR, MO, and WI(!) for 2016.
Roy O. Kendall collected a long series of this moth in Bexar County (San Antonio) in 1971 and 1981. (6)
Print References
Grote(7), A.R., 1870. Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 3: 186.
Stoll, [1782]. in Cramer, Uitl. Kapellen 4(32-32): 182; plate 381, fig. E.
Wickwire, H.A. 1932. Notes on the larval stages of Melanchroia chephise. Entomological News 43: 16-17.
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group - MPG (3)
2007 Outbreak in Oklahoma - John Fisher
Texas Entomology - Mike Quinn, 2009
Snowbush Caterpillar - Spanworm - Doug Caldwell, University of Florida
Butterflies and Moths of North America - BAMONA
NABA-South Texas - 2006
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) (8)
Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of the French Antilles
Works Cited
1.Arthropods of Florida and Neighboring Land Areas: Lepidoptera of Florida
J.B. Heppner. 2003. Florida Department of Agriculture 17(1): 1-670.
2.Check list of the Lepidoptera of America north of Mexico.
Hodges, et al. (editors). 1983. E. W. Classey, London. 284 pp.
3.North American Moth Photographers Group
4.Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Florida
5.Survey of Utah Moth Species
6.Texas A&M University Insect Collection (TAMUIC)
7.Augustus Radcliffe Grote, Lepidopterist (1841-1903)
8.BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data Systems
Contributed by Alan Chin Lee on 6 September, 2004 - 12:18am
Additional contributions by Robin McLeod, Mike Quinn, Maury Heiman, Wisconsin Oecanthinancy, metrioptera
Last updated 15 October, 2018 - 9:24am

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