Something that Resembles the Dark Marbled Carpet
And here’s the last moth photographed around our porch light on June 30, 2012.
This next photo shows the head slightly less shaded (not that it shows that much more detail, though).
From the Peterson Guide to Moths, I though it looked most like the Dark Marbled Carpet, Dysstroma citrata. Not that that’s saying much, though. The Dark Marbled Carpet is a very variably-colored species, ranging from big brown bands and patches on the wings all the way to no brown at all (mine just has some medium-sized brown splotches). One immediate problem, though: BugGuide says they overwinter as eggs. And in our climate, getting from egg to adult by June 30 sounds unreasonably fast. I think that all of our June-flying moths pretty much have to overwinter as either older caterpillars, or as pupae.
I’m seeing some disagreement between BugGuide and the Peterson Guide: BugGuide says one generation per year, but the Peterson Guide says two generations. Hm.
So, it might be the Dark Marbled Carpet, but probably not based on the timing. But, at this point, I don’t really have any better choices other than “one of its relatives” (of which there are many). This could be another one that I have to come back to in future years, after getting a few more pictures (and maybe rearing a caterpillar or two).
I’m thinking that the next phase of light-trapping moths is to try to get male/female pairs to mate and lay eggs, and seriously start trying to rear their caterpillars. There are just too many moths that can’t be reliably identified just from pictures of the adults.
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