Eudesmia arida

Class: Hexapoda (animals with six legs - includes all insects)
    lepido = scale and ptera = wings (singular is pteron)
    The wings are covered with small scales.
Order: Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)
Family: Arctiidae (tiger, lichen and wasp moths)
Species: Eudesmia arida
Common Name: tiger moth (not species specific)
Date: 2003 August 05
Place: Guadalupe Mountains National Park
    Pine Springs Visitor Center (at lights)

Knudson and Bordelon (1999) list 37 species for the Park.

Most species have a body length around 1 inch. These moths have a thick body and so tend to hold their wings roof-like over their bodies when resting. (Because of this, it is easier to take closeup pictures from the side and focus only on one wing than to take pictures from above.)

<i>Grammia</i> sp.

Grammia sp.
2003 September 24 at the Pine Springs Visitor Center (at lights)

<i>Ectypia</i> sp.

Ectypia sp.
2003 at the Pine Springs Visitor Center

ctenuchid moth

Ctenucha venosa
2003 September 11 at Manzanita Spring

day-flying moth

Pygoctenucha pyrrhousa
2001 June 03 near the beginning of the Devil's Hall Trail

Holland (1903) calls this the Blue-green Lichen Moth. Knudson and Bordelon (1999) collected this species from Dog Canyon and indicate that it is part of the fauna from Arizona and New Mexico.

Links

Note: This is a personal web site and is not affiliated with the National Park Service or Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Contact information for the author, Ron Lyons, is accessible through the Index Page referenced below. Thank you.