Moths at My Black Light

Last Tuesday I ran my black light outside again. I left it on for a couple hours longer than usual, which paid off since a few moths I had not recorded before showed up near the end. I photographed about 40 species overall, with all but a few identified. (My post is coming a week after the mothing session because it took until this afternoon to find an ID for some of them.) Here are a few of the more interesting moths that visited the light. Most of the moths shown in this post were lifers.

This Glossy Black Idia (Idia lubricalis) was not a new species for me, but it was a new one for the yard.

The Bent-lined Carpet (Costaconvexa centrostrigaria) stood out to me as having a much stronger pattern than most of the geometer moths I see in the yard.

This American Dun-bar Moth (Cosmia calami) did not stay on the sheet very long.

I had to capture this Dusky Groundling (Condica vecors) and photograph it the next morning because my camera battery ran out just before it landed on the sheet.

This Common Angle (Macaria aemulataria) had the unusual habit of perching with its wings folded up over its back. That made it rather difficult to get a good photo of the uppersides of the wings.

Most of the Dichomeris micromoths that I have seen are pale tan or gray with variable spotting. This black and orange Black-edged Dichomeris (Dichomeris picrocarpa) has a much bolder pattern than the others.

This is the first plume moth I have recorded in the backyard; I think it may be a Grape Plume Moth (Geina periscelidactylus). I am not sure what the insect next to it is.

I was initially confused by this moth, but Flickr user Dougeee suggested that it might be a Bristly Cutworm (Lacinipolia renigera). It seems to have part of its pupal case attached to the end of its abdomen.

This moth is one that I still have not identified. It has the shape and size of an Idia, but its pattern does not match any of the Idia species shown at the Moth Photographers Group website. It could be a very worn Idia, or it could be another species that I missed while paging through the Noctuoidea plates.