Black-rimmed prominent moth facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Black-rimmed prominent moth |
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| Pheosia rimosa taiwanognoma | |
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Notodontidae
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| Genus: |
Pheosia
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| Species: |
P. rimosa
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| Binomial name | |
| Pheosia rimosa Packard, 1864
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The Pheosia rimosa moth is also known by cool names like the black-rimmed prominent moth, fissured prominent, or false-sphinx. It's a type of moth that belongs to the Notodontidae family. This moth was first officially described by a scientist named Alpheus Spring Packard way back in 1864. You can find Pheosia rimosa all across North America, from one coast to the other, though it's not as common in the southeastern parts of the United States.
Contents
What Does It Look Like?
This moth is pretty noticeable! It has a wingspan of about 43 to 62 millimeters (that's roughly 1.7 to 2.4 inches). Adult moths are mostly dark black-brown and white. Their front wings, called forewings, are white with a dark stripe along the top edge and all along the bottom edge. The back wings, or hindwings, are also white but have a dark spot near the bottom corner. You can usually see these adult moths flying around from spring until fall.
Life Cycle and What They Eat
The young moths, called larvae (or caterpillars), love to munch on the leaves of Populus (poplar) and Salix (willow) trees. These larvae look a bit like young hornworm caterpillars, which belong to a different family called Sphingidae.
The color of the Pheosia rimosa larvae can change a lot! They might be yellow, lavender, pink, green, brown, or even almost black. When they are fully grown, these caterpillars can reach about 45 millimeters (around 1.8 inches) long.
When winter comes, these moths don't fly around. Instead, they spend the cold months in a special resting stage called the pupal stage. This is when the larva changes into an adult moth.
Different Types of Pheosia rimosa
Scientists have identified a couple of different types, or subspecies, of Pheosia rimosa:
- Pheosia rimosa rimosa
- Pheosia rimosa taiwanognoma Nakamura, 1973 (This one is found in Taiwan!)
How Scientists Classify This Moth
For a while, another moth called Pheosia portlandia was thought to be a completely different species, especially in the forests along the Pacific coast. However, after more research, scientists found out that Pheosia portlandia is actually the same species as P. rimosa. When two different names turn out to be for the same thing, the older name usually stays, and the newer one becomes a "synonym."
