n.w. Austin, Travis County, Texas, USA
November 7, 2012
Size: FW 16-17mm
I wanted to get an opinion on images of a couple of critters that showed up yesterday here in Austin. The present moth is very similar to Mark Dreiling's unstreaked--and DNA barcoded--
S. eridania from OK on both
BG and
MPG as well as other BG images from VA and FL. Austin appears to be a bit west of the normal range of this species (same sources; and not listed by Gillaspy). I've had numbers of
S. albula at my porchlight since Oct. 16 (e.g.
here) then all of a sudden on Nov. 7, a small number of apparent
eridania showed up--very suspicious! I'm uploading
another individual in a moment which shows the heavy post-median streak, more characteristic of the species.
Comments/corrections will be much appreciated. I'll move these images to
S. eridania--or wherever they belong--after I get confirmation.