A couple of interesting moths

At first look these two moths look alike, but they aren’t. The moth on the left is the spear-marked black. The moth on the right is the white-banded black. These were photographed on the same morning coming to our lights. But not only were they there on the same day, there were a lot of them.

Here’s the figure from the Peterson guide to eastern North American moths for the white-banded black moth. The arrows are pointing to the critical wing characteristics.

Here’s the figure from the Peterson guide to eastern North American moths for the spear-marked black moth. The arrows are pointing to the critical wing characteristics.

It becomes obvious that they are both different and with careful observation differentiation.

For a few day this month these two species were not just common, but abundant. Walking to the point from our cabin we would see dozens, if not hundreds a day. All flying in daylight. Most people do not realize that many moths fly during the day as well as at night.

More later…