EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Night Moth

Owlet Moth (Catocala aholibah), Family Erebidae
Oregon, USA

Explanation:  Here is an unassuming and very overlooked species of moth, of the family Erebidae that occurs within the superfamily Noctuoidea that inculdes "owlet moths" ... a night moth, if you will.  They are associated with oaks in forests of western North America and seem to be relatively common.  

Not shown here is their underwing -- covered up in these photos -- which has bright orange patches that it reveals to suddenly startle potential predators as a flash behavior (something we hypothesized about last episode with a hummingbird). 
  

  
This species seems to not have any
standardized common name ... so
here, given its nocturnal habit and
"owlet" flash-behavior appearance,
I call it simply a night moth.

I discovered this specimen at night, clinging to the wall of the front porch of the cabin I was staying in, attracted to the porch light.  This was in a remote part of eastern Oregon up the Middle Fork of the John Day River.  Yes, there be oaks here.

 

 

  

Information:
    Haggard, P., and J. Haggard. 2006. Insects of the Pacific Northwest. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon. 295 pp.