This was a surprising find, glimmering under a shaded rock ledge, in the rubble beneath a badlands cliff in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta.
Hardly inconspicuous, this is the Many-spotted Tiger Moth (Hypercompe permaculata), a moth of the short grass prairie. Here is a short on-location video of the photographic process:
Host plants include: Stellaria media L.– common chickweed; Polygonum, knotweed; Taraxicum, dandelion and Plantago, plantain¹.
Thanks to Ian Maton and Gary Anweiler for the ID.
- See the Alberta records at the Entomology Collection E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta.
¹https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~gefauske/ndmoths/names/8144.htm
5 Comments
These things are meant to be conspicuous;
many of the arctiids have bold black and white or red black and white to warn predators that they are tasty in a BAD way.
That’s interesting, I’ve never thought of white as being aposematic…
Thanks for dropping by Gary!
What a beautiful moth! The dalmation of the moth world. Well photographed.
Hey. I’m 15 years old and I have one of these moths. It layed eggs. and I have them, should I just put it outside with these eggs? and leave them.
Putting the eggs outside will only be useful if you can place them on the food plant. Perhaps you can try raising the caterpillars on dandelion leaves. The adult moth usually dies soon after laying eggs, so it’s up to you to decide what to do with it.