Lithophane Complex
Early this week I found a moth at the porchlight that I did not recognize but seemed to be fairly well marked for identification. A quick scan through the Walking Through the Families at MPG got me heading towards the right family. But jumping over to Bugguide.net I hit a major roadblock. Apparently there are several species that even DNA barcoding is insufficient to confirm identification to the species.
Lithophane ex. #1
Lithophane ex. #2
I am tentatively labeling this as Lithophane laticinerea (#9914) based on range since the other species in the complex appear to be limited more to the Northwest portion of the country.
Forewing: 23mm
Other moths this week:
Eastern Panthea - Panthea furcilla (#9182)
Forewing: 27mm
Forage Looper - Caenurgina erechtea (#8739)
Forewing: 18mm
The dark bands on the forewing are not connected distinguishing this from Clover Looper (Caenurgina crassiuscula)
Fawn Sallow - Psaphida styracis (#10016)
Forewing: 15mm
Gray Half-spot Moth -Nedra ramosula (#9582)
Forewing: 15mm
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