Another Gray-Brown Moth with a Bald Spot

2014 October 4

Here’s another one of those moths, from September 2, 2013, at the porch light. And by “those”, I mean “moths with few identifying features”.

It was one of the moths that pretty much plays dead during daylight hours. No real identifying marks on the underside, either.

I don’t think it is the same species as the bald, gray moth that I posted previously. That one had shorter, broader wings. Although, the other one was a male, and this one could be a female based on the less-feathery antennae, so it is possible that they are the same species and this is just a sexual dimorphism. Also, that previous one was flying in the spring and this one was flying in the fall, so in order to be the same species they’d have to be something that raises two broods a year.The “bald spot” on the thorax seems to be just something that happens to moths as they get old. I don’t know why the hairs on the thorax would be more prone to wearing away or sloughing off than hairs on the rest of the body, but they evidently are.

It’s a fairly portly specimen, about an inch long. This is the sort of moth that bats particularly like to eat – nice and fat and juicy.

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of evidence of functioning mouthparts, so this may well be one of the many species where the adults live only to mate, without wasting time on that whole “eating” thing.

I posted it on BugGuide with no takers as to the ID. I suspect it is one of the many Noctuid moths, probably the adult form of one of the cutworms, but that’s only a guess.

4 Responses
  1. October 6, 2014

    It has a bald spot because it’s a deep thinker, Tim. Moss don’t grow on a busy street, you know.

  2. Tom permalink
    July 28, 2016

    Not a cutworm moth thats for sure. We see these in western ontario. Not sure on exact species

  3. Lily permalink
    October 19, 2017

    What is the name of it

  4. Cole permalink
    July 26, 2020

    I have found one of these moths too, it seems to be a female. This is late July that i found it and its developing a bigger orange spit as I watch it grow its wings are a very light brown and very plain almost nothing on them. You can see its veins on its wings with a span of about 2 cm for one wing. Very fluffy.
    Have you found what kind of moth this is?

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