Flannel Moth
Thoscora acca
15.13, -92.3
Field Notes
Description:
Bright orange, very hairy moth about 1 cm in length. The head, thorax, abdomen and legs are covered in orange hair. The wings are also orange but with a sparse amount of scales. The wing venation is clearly visible. Only the eyes and the last segments of the tarsi are black (and look like little shoes). The antenna are broadly pectinate and this is probably a male. Family Megalopygidae, Flannel Moths.
Habitat:
Came to an ultraviolet light, Finca Argovia, Ruta de Café, Soconusco Area of Chiapas, about 2 hours north of Tapachula.
Notes:
There is another very similar moth, Acraga coa in the Family Dalceridae but it has longer and hairier front legs and lacks the black tarsi. The wing venation is also different (compare the second reference below to the above pictures).
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=80240676
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/strange-caterpillars-and-how-they-l…
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2008/10/28/unknown-mexican-moth/
https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=B9rdQ1gHuAAC&pg=PA168&lpg=PA168&dq…
References for Thoscora acca (Megalopygidae):
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20p?
res=240&see=I_PBA/0055&flags=order_by_title:
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20p?see=I_EHMS10569&res=640
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20p?res=240&see=I_EHMS/0075&mobile=iPhone
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Megalopygidae
http://gallery.kunzweb.net/main.php?g2_itemId=36662
This Noah spotting (http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/213806112/fullscreen) by Jose Miguel Diaz in 2014 looks like mine and is probably also Thoscora of the Megalopygidae and not Acraga coa of the Dalceridae.
An american tourist spotted a moth like mine in the Tabasco-Campeche area (north of Chiapas) in 2013 and it is believed to be Thoscora acca.
(http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2013/02/05/possibly-flannel-moth-from-mexic…). There are not many reports of this moth from Mexico yet.
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