Unknown caterpillar - Schinia mitis

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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Owlet Moths and kin (Noctuoidea) » Owlet Moths (Noctuidae) » Heliothinae » Flower Moths (Schinia) » Schinia mitis - Hodges#11169 (Schinia mitis)

Photo#954940

Copyright © 2014 Mike Hill

Unknown caterpillar - Schinia mitis

Seven Springs, Wayne County, North Carolina, USA
July 11, 2014
Size: 15mm +/-

I saw this caterpillar yesterday on a what I believe to be a False Dandelion (Pyrrhopappus species) flower. My camera kept steaming up due to the humidity so I didn't get a good shot of it. This morning, the caterpillar was "closed in", inside the dead flower. I captured its photo on the dead flower after opening it and put the caterpillar on another open flower, in the same way I found it yesterday, and photographed it. I know that this plant is the host for Schinia mitis, which I have seen on this flower earlier this year, and last year. Could this be the caterpillar of Schinia mitis? I am at a loss, since I have not been able to find any information, or photos, concerning the caterpillar stage of this moth.

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Contributed by Mike Hill on 11 July, 2014 - 9:18am
Last updated 23 July, 2014 - 9:30am

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… Timothy Reichard, 23 July, 2014 - 9:30am

Good Find

That is indeed Schinia mitis. There is a similar photo of said species on Carolina False Dandelion (Pyrrhopappus carolinianus) in A Monograph to the North American Heliothentinae by David F. Hardwick.

A tough one to find given the host plant behavior of closing up the flowers before noon and the quick cycle of the larvae (under 12 days). Well done.

… George Smiley, 12 July, 2014 - 2:00pm

Thank You!

Thanks for your help with this. It was just over a year ago that I first discovered one of the adults in my yard. That took a while to identify but I am very happy to have seen, the caterpillar, the adult moth AND a mating pair in my yard, all on the same species of flower.

… Mike Hill, 13 July, 2014 - 1:49pm

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