Nemoria festaria (Hulst, 1886). [7044]

Nemoria festaria, live adult male moth. Reared ex ovum. Parent female collected Ramsey Canyon, Cochise Cruz Co., AZ, July 2015.

Nemoria festaria, adult male, collection of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH). Specimen collected Cave Creek RA, Chiricahua Mountains, Coronado Nat. Forest. Cochise Co., AZ, 11-13 April 1990.

Nemoria festaria is a southwestern species characterized by particularly thin white am and pm lines on a finely striated green wing. A red terminal line is present and the fringes are commonly checkered with red-pink markings at the end of each vein. The Arizona specimens pictured here both show the presence of a well developed white abdominal spot on the A2 segment, with the resulting pattern of 4 or 5 contiguous abdominal spots. This is in contrast to the pattern on many other Nemoria species such as Nemoria obliqua where the spot is missing or only very weakly developed on the second abdominal segment. Ferguson (1985) reports that the second abdominal segment spot is frequently present in Arizona specimens but may be missing from Texas specimens. For images of Nemoria festaria eggs and larvae, click here.Ferguson (1985) reported festaria as occurring in a narrow band from Arizona through New Mexico to eastern Texas. A female Nemoria specimen from Oklahoma in the collection of the USNM with pale yellow fringes, a strong red terminal line, white striations on the wing and very thin, almost obsolescent am and pm lines is almost certainly festaria with four white spots on the dorsal surface of the abdomen. The specimen is in excellent condition. The Oklahoma moth species list records Nemoria festaria from McIntosh, Payne and Roger Mills counties. The USNM specimen adds a Sequoyah County record and raises the possibility of the species occurring in neighboring Arkansas. For images of Nemoria festaria eggs, larvae and pupa, click here.

Nemoria festaria, adult female, reared ex ovum.

Nemoria festaria, adult female, collection of the NMNH Smithsonian, specimen collected Sequoyah Co., OK, 11-14 June 1981.

Nemoria festaria, adult male, reared ex ovum. Parent female collected Gila, NM, July 2017.

Nemoria festaria, front and legs. Reared ex ovum. Parent female collected Gila, NM.