mystery moth

[Grkovich, Alex]

Oscar,
 
For sure, they blend in with their ackgrounds when resting during the day, and are less obvious to potential predators...They also tend to remain motionsless unless completely disturbed...
 
Aren't they also less visible at night, in flight?

Alex

________________________________

From: owner-leps-l at lists.yale.edu on behalf of OscartheGrouch
Sent: Mon 7/10/2006 4:40 AM
To: leps-l at lists.yale.edu
Subject: Re: mystery moth




<antipop42 at gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1152489734.630011.250810 at m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
> Hi all,
>
> I found this strange bug sitting on the side of my house today that
> I've never seen before.  It took about an hour of research online, but
> I finally discovered that it's a Plume moth.  Here's the pic I took of
> it:
>
> http://members.cox.net/antipop42/weirdbug.jpg
>
> It's been sitting in the same place literally all day without moving.
> I'm not an entomologist... Is this normal behavior?
>
> TheAntipop
>

It is very normal behavior for night flying moths to sit motionless during
the day. If they are on a substrate that they blend in well with they will
be less likely to be noticed by predators. If not, well. I don't think
they're smart enough to seek out colors that match theirs or that camoflage
them well. Example: a brown moth on a tree with brown bark versus a brown
moth on a white house wall. Here's a question for ya to ponder....Why are
butterflies typically brightly (more or less) colored while many moths are
typically drab? (This was a question back on a Systematic Entomolgy final.)
I could have answered it better than I did, but I've had about 25 years to
think about it. Your answers??




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