Baltimore Snout

About once a year Duke Farms will have a summer mothing program where a naturalist sets up a sheet and bright lighting to attract moths while talking to us about them. Today I got a confirmation ID on one of the moths, a Baltimore Snout.

Though I'm pretty confident of this ID, I have to admit that they do look pretty darned similar to a relative, the Dimorphic Snout [1] [2]. The main differences are related to the large dark patches on their forewings:

  1. The patches are straighter in the Baltimore Snout.
  2. The patches extend closer to the end of the wings on the Baltimore Snout.
  3. There's sometimes a small point (described as a "tooth") at the end of the patch of a Dimorphic Snout.
August 13, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 228563476, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Note their "snout" is more accurately called a labial palp. They may help lepidopterans taste food before drinking it.

[1] Technically only the female Dimorphic Snouts look like male/female Baltimore Snouts. The male Dimorphic Snouts are much darker, obscuring the large dark patch on each forewing. (They're named "dimorphic" for good reason.)

[2] If you're ever mugged by a Baltimore Snout, be careful not to pull a Dimorphic Snout out of the police lineup.

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