White-Dotted Prominent
I’d debated whether or not to run these pictures, as they are fairly old (July 3, 2009) and were taken with my old point-and-shoot camera. They are good enough for ID, though, and particularly show the distinctive white spots on its wings. In this case, the white spots are raised and almost look like tiny colonies of white mold.
It’s a White-Dotted Prominent, Nadata gibbosa. The spots are a key ID feature of the species if they are present, but sometimes they don’t have the spots, so not having them does not mean that they aren’t this species.
Anyway, on May 26, 2012 I found another one that came to a “light trap” I set up behind the barn. These pictures are a bit sharper, but not so much so that I feel I need to be embarrassed about the earlier ones.
There is a bit of variation between the two specimens, but not much. Neither of them exposed their antennae at all, so I expect that they were both females waiting for a male to come along.
The caterpillars are plump and blue-green, and normally found eating oak leaves (although they will feed on all the usual suspects like birch, cherry, maple, and willow).
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It’s fuzzy! I like fuzzy. It’s a moth to make you smile. Maybe you could team up with Dennis Prager on one of his Happiness Hour broadcasts and recommend some insect therapy!