Forage Looper Moth (Caenurgina erechtea)- female

9 June 2015: Walked about Elm Fork Park near Pilot Point, Texas and came upon a female Forage Looper Moth (Caenurgina erechtea), Genus Erebidae, that's been IDentified for us by the generous assistance of A. Hendrickson, a Contributing Editor, at BugGuide, which is hosted and based in the Department of Entomology at Iowa State University. For the ID on BugGuide go here: http://bugguide.net/node/view/1156051 . While Hendrickson indicated that he was certain about the genus but not the species he went ahead and provided his best estimate of its species as indicated above. We then checked his suggested genus and species for this brown-colored moth at both BugGuide with the additional images and observations others have made and which have been fortunately carefully archived, as well as the Moth Photographer's Group, Mississippi Entomological Museum, Mississippi State University (MPG as it is referred to in mothing circles), and we provide links to both of these valuable comparative sources. Basically we found that at both the BugGuide and Moth Photographers Group's sites there appear similar images of moths that look exactly like the one captured in our own observation at Elm Fork Park. And if one references the range map for Erebidae: Caenurgina erechtea provided in the MPG, one will see that the southernmost observations made of this moth in the United States occur in the Central Texas region and the North Texas region where we're located is fully within its southern range. So our ID for this moth is Forage Looper Moth (Caenurgina erechtea), female. Because of its extended range in the United States Forage Looper Moth is an original and authentic resident of the Western Hemisphere. Elm Fork Park is administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD).

Sources:

"Erebidae: Caenurgina erechtea - Brown moth, female," BugGuide, Department of Entomology, Iowa State University, to access the ID made by A. Hendrickson and access additional images and discussion of additional observations made of this moth species, go to: http://bugguide.net/node/view/1156051

"Caenurgina erechtea – Forage Looper Moth – (Cramer, [1780])," Moth Photographers Group, Mississippi Entomological Museum, Mississippi State University, for a wide array of additional photographs of this moth species and for a range map of the same go to: http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=8739