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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Owlet Moths and kin (Noctuoidea) » Erebidae » Tiger and Lichen Moths (Arctiinae) » Lichen Moths (Lithosiini) » Cisthenina » Cisthene » Pictured Lichen Moth - Hodges#8075 (Cisthene picta)

Species Cisthene picta - Pictured Lichen Moth - Hodges#8075

Classification · Hodges Number · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Numbers · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Remarks · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
8061 Kentucky Lichen - Cisthene picta Cisthene angelus, Angel Lichen, Hodges #8070 ? - Cisthene picta Cisthene picta - Hodges #8075 - Cisthene picta - male ID Request - Cisthene picta Gray and orange lichen moth - Cisthene picta 930192 – 8075 – Cisthene picta - Cisthene picta Orange and gray lichen moth - Cisthene picta Cisthene picta - Pictured Lichen Moth - Hodges#8075 - Cisthene picta - male
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 Arctiinae (Tiger and Lichen Moths)
Tribe Lithosiini (Lichen Moths)
Subtribe Cisthenina
Genus Cisthene
Species picta (Pictured Lichen Moth - Hodges#8075)
Hodges Number
8075
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Cisthene picta (Barnes & McDunnough(1), 1918)
Illice picta Barnes & McDunnough, 1918
Phylogenetic sequence # 930192
Numbers
The genus Cisthene includes 20 described species listed for America, north of Mexico.(2)(3)
Identification
Pictured Lichen Moth is one of the two species in the genus which has a completely orange thorax, a character shared with Angel Lichen Moth. The basal streak is wide, straight edged, and broadly connected to a wide PM band. The PM band is perpendicular to the inner margin and is usually smoothly concave on both sides (Sexton & McGuinness, 2017.)

Range
Apparently has a limited distribution mainly in the s. Great Plains. Documented from Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and s.w. Missouri. There are a few records in s. Indiana which may represent the n.e. limit of the range or strays. A few recent records in Vermont are remarkable. The species seems not to be common anywhere.
Habitat
Some specimens were collected in riparian woodland corridors within semiarid grasslands or shrublands.
Season
In Texas and Oklahoma, adults have two flight periods, April-May and September-October (iNaturalist, MPG, BG records).
Remarks
Previously confused with both Angel and Kentucky Lichen Moths.
See Also
Angel Lichen Moth - also has entirely orange thorax (including central disk) but is confined to riparian corridors in arid southwestern habitats. The PM band is oblique and nearly parallel to the outer FW margin. The ranges of the two species barely overlap in s.w. Texas.
Kentucky Lichen Moth - can look similar but has a dark thoracic disk. Ranges further east.
Print References
Sexton, C., and H. McGuinness. 2017. Identification of lichen moths in the genus Cisthene in the central and eastern U.S. South. Lep. News (39(4):309-322.
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group (4)
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) (5)
Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) (6)
Key to Texas species of Cisthene
Works Cited
1.James Halliday McDunnough (1877 -1962) A biographical obituary and bibliography
Douglas C. Ferguson . 1962. Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society, 16(4): 209-228.
2.A Revision of the Species of Cisthene Known to Occur North of the Mexican Border (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae: Lithosiinae)
Carroll B. Knowlton. 1967. Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 93(1): 41-100.
3.Annotated check list of the Noctuoidea (Insecta, Lepidoptera) of North America north of Mexico.
Donald J. Lafontaine, B. Christian Schmidt. 2010. ZooKeys 40: 1–239 .
4.North American Moth Photographers Group
5.BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data Systems
6.Butterflies of North America
Contributed by Maury J. Heiman on 16 July, 2013 - 10:53am
Additional contributions by Chuck Sexton, JoAnneRusso
Last updated 23 July, 2022 - 6:23pm

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