Silver-Spotted Fern Moth
This strongly-spotted little moth was at our porch light on September 1, 2025. It has a very distinctive pattern of bright spots, and it looks like the Silver-Spotted Fern Moth, Callopistria cordata.
I like the way its eyes are low down, and appear to be peeking over its antenna:
The “fur” on the thorax actually looks more like feathers or elongated scales than hairs.
These are the first insects that I have gotten pictures of that eat ferns. At least, their caterpillars do. Ferns in general are not very edible, and bracken ferns (which are the ones these moths eat) are particularly so. They are toxic to most animals, due to the Ptaquiloside that they contain. On top of that, the plants have a high silica content that wears down teeth of things that eat them, and the fully-developed leaves don’t have a particularly high nutrient content. So, if these moths are eating the local ferns, it looks like they have them all to themselves. The caterpillars are green with white stripes and reddish-brown hashes down their sides, so it will be worthwhile shaking down some ferns next summer to see what I can turn up.