Observation date: July 27, 2013
Submitted by: Sara Gardner Blow
Specimen type: Photograph
Observation notes: Was found sitting in a pan under a chair on porch. It was very docile and did not try to fly. I was able to get it to open its wings just a bit and it wanted to stay on my hand.
Status: Resident
Verified by: stomlins701
Verified date: July 28, 2013
Coordinator notes: Apantesis vittata and A. nais can look much alike, however. vittata appears to consistently have 2 black marks between the head and thorax that nais does not have, based on photos reviewed on Moth Photographers group website. Another species, A. phaerata has the two black marks, but the hindwings are spotted, not with a black border as in the sighting photo. The closest looking Grammia sp, G. figurata, the suggested id, tends to consistently have a black leading edge on the forewing, which the sighting photo does not. With these distinctions in mind, the sighting is believed to be A. vittata based on photos reviewed on MPG.
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=8170
