The White Spotted Sable Moth is a mostly northern species. It can be found as far south as North Carolina but you’d have a better chance of seeing on if you lived in Newfoundland. In the west they range from the Northwest Territories south to Colorado and California. In between you can look for them in Michigan and Minnesota. This moth can also be found throughout Eurasia.

White Spotted Sable Moth Anania funebris The subspecies found in North America is often listed as Anania funebris glomeralis Adults are day fliers and can be seen visiting flowers. The larvae feed on goldenrod (Solidago spp.) and Dyer’s Greenweed (Genista tinctoria) What caught my eye was the orange tuffs, not that the white spots on black wings wasn’t noticeable enough. It does show a wiseacre sense of fashion by adding some white stripes on the body. You are free to leave comments saying I dress like a clown.

There’s a similar looking moth, the Eight-spotted Forester (Alypia octomaculata) but it is considerably larger and has additional tuffs on the legs. As you can see in the photo below this moth has shaved legs making it a White Spotted Sable

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…and now for something not completely different

An American Lady – Vanessa virginiensis was also spotted fluttering about the milkweed.

Nearly everyone has a chance to spot one of these fine Ladies. Whether or not one gives you a stuck up face I guess is entirely dependent upon your perspective.

These flutterbys were found in a milkweed patch along the Middle Branch of the Grass River.
July 17th.

• Butterfly
• Comments(7)

7 Responses

1. Marguerite Says:
   July 23rd, 2010 at 8:20 am

   I have goldenrod as far as the eye can see but have yet to see any of these beautiful moths. Maybe I need to camp out in the hedgerow for an afternoon with a camera!

2. Louise Says:
   July 23rd, 2010 at 9:22 am

   Gorgeous moth, and, somehow, he pulls that fashion faux pas off. If you like to combine stripes and spots, you would get along well with one of the trainers at the track I volunteer at. Though, come to think of it, he’s more into stripes and plaid.

3. rainfield Says:
   July 23rd, 2010 at 11:01 am

   If you dress like a clown at one time, then you maybe like a monkey at another time.

4. Erin P Says:
   July 23rd, 2010 at 12:43 pm

   Thanks for your comment on my blog! Maybe I’ll leave it (the trumpet vine) in the wild. I love your blog, by the way, it’s informative (I love learning the latin names), full of beautiful photography, and funny all at once!!! I just have to figure out how to subscribe somehow; I’m just learning about “readers” but I guess that’s the key. Love it!!!

5. Erin P Says:
   July 23rd, 2010 at 12:52 pm

   I did it; now I get your articles on my homepage. Great!

6. ellada Says:
   July 23rd, 2010 at 4:22 pm

   So beautiful picture, you can see every detail of the butterfly.

7. Monica the Garden Faerie Says:
   July 23rd, 2010 at 9:01 pm

   Like em both!

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