As noted on a recent post: I don’t know how to even begin identifying moths. I count 32 “superfamilies” of moths, with all the families, subfamilies, and tribes below them taxonomically before one even gets to genus and species. In contrast, butterflies and skippers constitute one superfamily under the order Lepidoptera (“butterflies and moths”).
My field guide says, “[O]f the 12,000 species [of butterflies and moths] known in the United States and Canada, only 760 are butterflies, including the distinctive, relatively small-winged and chunky-bodied butterfly-like insects known as skippers (family Hesperiidae…).” So this specimen … is among the 11,240 species of moths known in the US and Canada.
The photograph should be good enough, and the moth’s markings distinct enough, I expect a fairly short turnaround on an ID. Although not terribly colorful, I still think it’s a relatively beautiful moth. Well, you know, for a moth.
Well, this is embarrassing. Again. It turns out that I photographed this species eleven years ago, but I didn’t post it here. For 365 I posted a [beat-up] Tawny Emperor, but the sighting is at BAMONA.
Retired economics professor (“dismal scientist”). Married 40+ years to the love of my life; we have two grown daughters, both married, two granddaughters and a...
@kvphoto That looks like a winning ID to me. I've updated my submissions to possibly expedite the ID process! Thank you!! Check out this photo to compare: https://bugguide.net/node/view/2266389
@rhoing sure thing… if you like Seek and want to identify birds by bird sounds the Merlin Bird ID app is really cool too. I’ve so enjoyed sitting in my backyard and learning to identify birds by their songs.
@kvphoto I have tried really, really hard to avoid the slippery slope of birds and birding. Successful so far, and without a long lens anymore, the photography aspect is largely out of the question. I really liked my 50–250mm lens, but it was just a kit lens in 2010 and it gave up the ghost four years ago today, https://365project.org/rhoing/365/2020-08-03 Ten years probably isn't bad for a lens that was so used-and-abused in pursuit of “bugs”!
I have disappeared down an iNat rabbit hole…
Same userid as here.