Seeing any Polyhymno acaciella moths in Greater Austin, TX recently? Probably not...

Recently some of our active moth-ers in the Greater Austin, TX (GATX) region noticed what seemed to be an influx of Polyhymno acaciella arriving at our sheets. I can go back about five years on my house observations not recalling any previous visits from this moth. Fortunately, sharp-eyed Jeff McIntyre (@jeffmci9) cleared up a mystery by pointing out that the moths we're seeing are instead Polyhymno n. sp. 2, which is quite similar to acaciella. And, sp. 2 hasn't been assigned a "real" name yet.

Polyhymno acaciella
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=2210

Polyhymno n. sp. 2
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=2211.82

Polyhmno luteostrigella (our common Polyhymno for GATX)
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=2210

Polyhymno n. sp. 1 (often found in the Lower Rio Grande Valley)
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=2211.81

Polyhymno n. sp. 3 (a species documented in Arizona)
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=2211.83

By now, some of you who have encountered Polyhymo n. sp. 2 have noticed that Rich Kostecke (@rkostecke) has done a deep dive on the identifications of this species for observations from the GATX region. He has also authored an excellent Journal Post discussing the appearance and range of the two easily confused Polyhymnos. Please read it here:

https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/rkostecke/97268-polyhymno-acaciella-vs-polyhymno-new-species-2

Posted on July 30, 2024 04:51 PM by jcochran706