Large Black Moth – Ctenucha virginica
These large moths were pretty plentiful back in June (as in, I saw about a dozen of them this year). This particular one was attracted by the light from our back door at the time. The blue on their body is actually very iridescent (an effect that I have a hard time capturing on camera).
This is a Ctenucha virginica, a type of large “wasp moth”. For size reference, it is resting on a playing card [1]. There are a couple of things about the name that are a problem. First, how the heck are you supposed to pronounce “Ctenucha”?[2] Second, the name “virginica” leads one to believe that they are a southern species, with Virginia being somewhere in the middle of their range. This is a lie. It turns out that they are a northern species, common in the northern US and Canada (and here, of course), and Virginia is the extreme southern portion of their range.
There is a similar species, the “Yellow-Collared Scape Moth[3]” (Cisseps fulvicollis) that can be mistaken for this one, except that Cisseps fulvicollis has a larger orange patch that runs straight across the thorax, while Ctenucha virginica has a smaller orange patch that kind of “drapes around the shoulders”
Based on the size of the antennae, I expect that this one is a male (since male moths tend to have larger, featherier antennae so that they can track down the scent of the females). I’ve seen them flying around in broad daylight, and this one was drawn to a light during the night, so they evidently don’t much care about what time of day they are out hunting for food (the adults drink nectar from flowers). They are pretty strikingly visible during the day, so they must have some defense against getting eaten, but I don’t know what it is[4].
Anyway, according to BugGuide, the larvae “feed on monocots: grasses, sedges, iris”, which seems to me to be a weird list. Why iris? And will they eat any grass (keeping in mind that things like corn can be considered grasses), or just the sorts of species that people use for lawns?
Edit in 2008: Later, I found and photographed the caterpillar, which I posted about here. The caterpillar is pretty distinctive, too.
Edit in 2012: And even later than that, I found another caterpillar and raised it to adulthood, just to conclusively prove that they were the same species.
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[1] I mainly used the card because it was hard to get good contrast of a black moth against any sort of dark background. It was the Ace of Diamonds from a “bicycle” deck, if anyone wants to get the scale by measuring the visible diamond symbol. It was big enough that I couldn’t easily use the high-magnification “macro” lens, because it wouldn’t all fit into the picture.
[2] If this were in Esperanto, then I would pronounce the “C” as if it were a “Ts” sound, but it isn’t in Esperanto. So, I don’t know if it is pronounced “ts”, “k”, “s”, “ch”, or, for all I know, “xyzzy”
[3] Whoever came up with the common name for this evidently had the same color naming convention as my father. We had one of those orange “outdoor” extension cords, that he consistently referred to as the “yellow extension cord”. And now, when somebody calls something “yellow” that is clearly orange, I don’t even register that they called it the wrong color.
[4] One possibility, given that they are referred to as a type of “wasp moth”, is that they look enough like a wasp that predators don’t want to tangle with them. I kind of doubt this, though, because they don’t look *that* much like a wasp.
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I found out when poking around that “virginica” is a tip of the hat to Queen Elizabeth I – the Virgin Queen. Just thought I’d share that random tidbit with you!
Hi!! I have about forty of these circling my backyard, making me very nervous. I was able to look at one close up (the yellow-collared scape moth) which did nothing make me feel better :=) However, I decided that if they were pretty orange coloured butterflies, I’d think nothing of having them flit from my bushes to my trees and decided to just enjoy them. I’d never notised them before, but this is the first year I have put bird feeders in my orange tree and I have a fine crop of dracena, or corn plants, growing as well as other grasses and flowers-so your theory about what ‘grasses’ they are attracted to is right. The birds leave them alone, probably because they do resemble wasps. They also stick around all day and cluster between the rubber tree, a large ‘Snow on the Mountain’ and the orange tree. Thanks for your page-I’ve found it invaluable when looking for the flying and crawling beasties in my little world.
Thanks for the added observations! We actually have quite a number of them this year too – I’ve seen about a dozen of them so far in the last week. It must be a good year for them.
We have what seems like hundreds of these around our yard. They are plastered all over our bushes, and flying everywhere, landing on the windows, day and night. Never noticed them before this year. I don’t like them, they seem to chase me when I’m outside. I’m very imtimitated by them, does anyone know if their harmless? Do they sting? Can I use a spray to kill them?
They are completely harmless (moths don’t have stingers, and they don’t bite), although I agree that these jet-black things can look a bit sinister. They’re only going to be around for a couple of weeks before they die off, so there’s no real need to do anything about them. The larvae eat grass, so they aren’t likely to damage any of your garden or ornamental plants, either.
The way these things usually go, the large numbers this year will cause a big increase in the number of their predators and parasitoids. This means that next year, there will be so many things eating the caterpillars that they are likely to be almost wiped out, even without you doing anything.
I have them in my storage shed that is attached to my patio of my condo. There were 2 of them today and one flew into the condo. They look creepy. I sure don’t want them sitting on all my things stored in the shed. Larger pots and pans, baking items etc.
Saw a dozen of these Virginia Ctenucha flitting about a meadow by the seashore in Bellevue, Newfoundland, today. Simply stunning. Thanks for the very helpful information you’ve posted.
Ed Hayden
Thank you for the information. I just had one fly into my house in Nova Scotia. I have never seen a black moth before.
Awesome! I’ve been looking for the name of this moth! I live in Petaluma, California and have been seeing these around the property I live on. Any idea on why they might have spread this far west or is there a western species that I’m confusing it with?
Matt: I’ve been seeing a lot more of these than usual lately, too. About a month ago, over a dozen of them came to our porch light. Since they eat grass, it is quite possible that they are living in some quantity in people’s lawns, and it would not surprise me at all if they were expanding their range cross-country by lawn-hopping.
They could also be the very similar Yellow-Collared Scape Moth, which is known to live in California. Check it out here:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/447
Awesome, cool! That’s interesting about the lawn hopping too as I live in the country away from any manicured lawns. Is that just an explanation for their increased range then?
Also, thanks for pointing out the similarity with the scape moth. I looked at those too, but wasn’t convinced that what I saw was indeed the scape moth as the wings look more akin to the Ctenucha virginica (is there a common name?). Is that just the way they fold or are the wings for the scape moth less broad?
I think we have a few of these moths feeding on our silk lilac. Good to know they won’t harm it. Thanks for the information. Their blue thorax was quite stunning.
One of these little guys is currently resting right next to me on my lamp. He flew in about two hours ago. Since he (or maybe she?) seemed comfortable, I decided to let him stay for awhile. But I did want to know what he was; after a quick search I found this site. He looks just like the one in your picture, so if the long antennae belong to males then this is definitely a ”he.”
Anyhow, they’re beautiful and I hadn’t noticed the white trim at the bottom of his wings until I took a closer look. I plan to let him go before I go to bed, though. I’ve never seen this type of month until now, which is strange since I live in the northern US. I’d gladly trade these months in for all the damned camel crickets that seemingly appeared out of nowhere two years ago. xD
Thanks for the information.
My daughter found one of these caterpillars on the beach in Frenchman’s Cove, Newfoundland, Canada (On the west coast of NL. She brought it home, put it in an old aquarium with some sticks/twigs, flowers and a cap full of water. 2 days later is cocooned. This was a couple days after Father’s Day. Today, the cocoon broke open and out came this black moth. Your website helped us out a lot…now we know what we have.
thanks for the information.
Have a window full of these. Never saw them before. Thanks for your info. South Central Michigan
I found one of these in July 0f 2015 on a walk with my grandchildren at a friend’s home in the country. It had damaged a wing so I was able to bring it home and film a video of it with an iPad mini I had. I was totally intrigued with the beauty of this creature! The gorgeous iridescent blue body and that bright orange head and feathery antennae! Absolutely stunning!! I only found out this week the name of it. A friend at work took my photos and through Google images was able to identify it — Ctenucha Virginica!
I had never seen one of these before and have not since — but I really want to! I live in Ontario, Canada.