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Species Heterusia atalantata - Hodges#7367

amazing little geometrid, in hand - Heterusia atalantata Orange Satyr-Moth - Heterusia atalantata Estero Llano Grande State Park, TX unknown moth - Heterusia atalantata Estero Llano Grande State Park, TX unknown moth - Heterusia atalantata Orange satyr moth - Heterusia atalantata Heterusia atalantata Moth - Heterusia atalantata Moth - Heterusia atalantata
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 Larentiinae
Tribe Stamnodini
Genus Heterusia
Species atalantata (Heterusia atalantata - Hodges#7367)
Hodges Number
7367
Other Common Names
Orange Satyr-Moth
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Heterusia atalantata (Guenée)
Orig. Comb: Scordylia atalantata Guenée [1858]
Numbers
1 sp. n. of Mex. (1), (Knudson & Bordelon 2002)
Size
wingspan 30 mm (Guenée 1857)
Identification
Unmistakeable upperwing pattern, brilliant yellow with a wide black border.
At rest, hides this by folding wings up over its back and showing only the undersurface of the hindwings, which are mottled in various shades of brown.
Range
s. TX (as a stray) / south to Brazil (Type Locality) - Map (MPG)
Habitat
Typically flies in shaded areas, especially along wooded canals. (Knudson & Bordelon 2002)
Season
Nov-May (BG data)
Food
Adults feed on nectar and have been recorded coming to butterfly bait (old bananas mixed with beer, etc.).
Life Cycle
Larval host(s) unknown (Knudson & Bordelon 2002)
Remarks
This diurnal moth is not very common in south Texas, but fairly conspicuous (2)
Print References
Knudson, E. & C. Bordelon. 2002. The Stamnodini (Geometridae: Larentiinae) of Texas. News of the Lepidopterists' Society. 44(1): 7-8. (Full PDF)
Guenée, 1857. Pp. 383 In: Boisduval & Guenée. Hist. nat. Insectes (Spec. gén. Lépid.) 10: 1-584. (Full Text)
Works Cited
1.Check list of the Lepidoptera of America north of Mexico.
Hodges, et al. (editors). 1983. E. W. Classey, London. 284 pp.
2.Illustrated Checklist of the Lepidoptera of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas, Vol. 3C: Micro-Moths and Geometroids
Ed Knudson & Charles Bordelon. 2008. Texas Lepidoptera Survey, Houston. 30 pp., 18 plates.