All the way from Texas, Patti Nelson asks, “What’s this animal?”

Well Patti, it looks like you’ve got an early flyer there! That’s the Spotted Apatelodes, Apatelodes torrefacta, a beautiful moth of the Bombycidae (Silkworm Moths) family which is commonly mistaken for the somewhat similar looking Sphinx Moth. I say early flyer because they are most commonly in flight between May and August. These fellas go through 3 generations per year, 2 in the south and 1 in the north.

Any more questions? Feel free to ask!

Have a picture of an animal or plant and can’t seem to figure out what it is? Send it my way and I’ll identify it for you! Send submissions to devonlbowker@gmail.com or message ‘The Wild Life’ on Facebook.