What's this??? [and a PPPS]

Most people would never guess that it's.....


a MOTH!

Mike Freeman photographed the Plume Moth [above] yesterday [9/19/10] in the Conservatory Garden. Also the Hawaiian Beet Webworm Moth below:

Photos by Mike Freeman -- 9/19/10

PS The Plume Moth looks the way it does because it rolls its wings and holds them at right angles to his body when at rest.

PPS The range of the Hawaiian Beet Webworm Moth is from New York State to Florida. It is never found in Hawaii. Maybe there's a vegetable called a Hawaiian Beet????

PPPS on Monday morning:
Early this morning [9/21/10] a correction arrived by e-mail from Davie Rolnick. A while back Davie was an exuberant Central Park child birder. Now he is a [still exuberant] student at MIT

Marie!

Bugguide [a much-used website for serious entomology fans - MW] says the range of the moth is

"Ontario and New York to Florida, west through Texas to California, north to Illinois; also occurs in Hawaii, the Neotropics, and many of the warmer regions of the world (Australia, Africa, southeast Asia), migrating north in late summer"

Moral: Covell [author of the Field Guide to Moths I used --MW] only cares about the range within eastern North America!

Cheers,

Davie