Wishing For Butterflies

Maybe it's the unreasonably warm January day. It was 67F in Philadelphia today. Maybe it's the accumulation of gray days so far this winter. Something is making me wish I could take my camera and go out stalking butterflies. Of course there are none. They're dormant or gone, so I'm settling for looking at pictures. This is the cabbage white, Pieris rapae.     Click to enlarge.

An American snout, Libytheana carinenta.

An American lady, Vanessa virginiensis.

A variegated fritillary, Euptoieta claudia.

A monarch, Danaus plexippus.

Carl Sagan once said: "We are like butterflies who flitter for a day and think it is forever."

I miss the moths, too.

The rosy maple moth,  Dryocampa rubicunda,

The yellow-collared scape moth, Cisseps fulvicollis.

.... and the caterpillars. 

Monarch.

Stinging rose moth caterpillar, Parasa indetermina.

Io moth caterpillar, Automeris io.

And the gregarious milkweed tussock moth caterpillars,
Euchaetes egle. Just another few months and they'll all be back.

Yellow-Collared Scape Moth

I've seen a few of these while watching butterflies this week. It's a little moth with the scientific name Cisseps fulvicollis. They're hard to miss because of the bright collar. Some have orange collars like this one. Click to enlarge.

Here's one with a yellow collar. The moth's common name is the yellow-collared scape moth. Ironically, there are more orange than yellow ones. Luckily, an alternative common name is sometimes used. Did you guess orange-collared scape moth? Correct! I wrote a blog about this one years ago. You can read it by clicking here.

Meet the Yellow-collared Scape Moth

The yellow-collared scape moth, Cisseps fulvicollis. Click to enlarge.

I found this moth near Atlantic City, New Jersey, in September, 2012. It is black with bright yellow trim, slender, and about half an inch long. It was nectaring on goldenrod at mid-day. Almost as if trying to pass itself off as a wasp.

It is Cisseps fulvicollis, a wasp-mimic member of the Tiger Moth family, Arctiidae. But it is all moth at heart. They fly at night, too, and are attracted to lights.

A scape is the lowest section of an insect's antenna; theirs must have really impressed the entomologists who named them.