I'm just getting around to editing a bunch of images from the summer. This creature came to the light one night in mid August.
It sits at rest with wings folded behind, but when disturbed, it spreads them out like a little helicopter. The body is about 2" long, so, with the wings spread, it's pretty big. Makes an odd flapping/buzzing sound.
Any clues?
Here it is with wings outstretched.
I think it's a clearwing moth, but which one I couldn't say.
http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=clearwing+moth&search=Search
I thought clearwing, but haven't found one that suits me yet.
It's some kind of Owlfly, family Ascalaphidae.
Hmmm...off to look at Owlflies...
Four Spotted Owlfly? Ululodes quadripunctatus?
Not much is known about them, and it looks like spots can vary from fly to fly. It's also the most common one in my area.
Before I add it, I'd like some assurance from those who know more than myself.
I saw that they were in Kentucky, too... I really don't know, but the four-spotted owlfly was the closest I saw.
That's the one I came across too, and a google seems to bring up those but this site states there are 9 species in the Genus. From what I have seen of other insects there are plenty which are difficult to tell apart.
http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/U/Ululodes_quadripunctatus.asp
edited to get the right link!
This message was edited Feb 16, 2008 11:42 PM
We can do some elimination from the distribution maps on that site.
U. cajennensis is in Costa Rica.
U. bicolor is also in Costa Rica
U. arizonensis just states Nth America, but ont he following site it simply states 'banks'
http://www.hr-rna.com/RNA/Other%20insect%20pages/Mantispid%20page.htm
U. floridana and macleayana are not listed as being in KY.
U. quadripunctatus is listed in KY.
U. macleayana is in the Caribbean and Nth America but only shows Costa Rica, Liberia
http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/U/Ululodes_macleayana.asp
U. mexicana doesn't show a distribution map, but my guess would be Mexico.
U. nigripes states only Nth America, no images found.
U. quadrimaculatus states "United States: (Indiana)" present but status unknown, but also the whole of United States.
http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/U/Ululodes_quadrimaculatus.asp
This leaves us with the two, U. quadrimaculatus and U. quadripunctatus which should be similar by both having 'quadri' marks.
There is a pic of U. quadrimaculatus
http://images.google.com/images?as_q=Ululodes%20quadrimaculatus&num=20&btnG=Google+Search&%20%20%20%20%20%20#38;as_epq=&hl=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&as_filetype=&imgc=&as_sitesearch=&imgsafe=active
This message was edited Feb 17, 2008 12:13 AM
I looked again at the distribution map of U. quadrimaculatus, the top map shows the white areas as being unknown in thewild, so that leaves us with U. quadripunctatus.
Where did you get the distribution map?
I am in south west KY, near the Mississippi River. Many of our insects are common in Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas. We are more of a low. rolling river plain, and most of the rest of KY is more Appalachian Mountains. The tallest things around here are cell phone towers.
There's a link at the left on each species page if you scroll down.
Well, from what I can tell, no one knows the difference between these two. I've looked at Owlflies till my eyes are crossed, and what I've discovered is that some of the exact same images are used to represent both species.
I'll see what Ken wants to do. I'm thinking that we may do just an Ululodes entry, leaving the species blank.
Another thing that I've found. There's very little known about these guys, except that they're pretty fierce predators. One account has an owlfly catching and eating a robberfly. Now, that's pretty fierce.
There's a post on a page at bugguide that says quadrimaculatus is a synonym for quadripunctatus, who knows? Anyway, congratulations on another great obscure insect find!
I saw that, but didn't see it anywhere else in my owlfly travels. I was hoping for confirmation from some college or government source instead of bugguide.
I've d-mailed Ken to ask for his guidance on this. Don't want to put it in BF today, and then have to move it later.
yeah, they're a pretty obscure critter...about all I've found out about them, is that no one knows much about them.
The only source I found was the NCSU which has 20 pinned samples of Ululodes quadrimaculata. If you use the middle search box for Genera and highlight Ululodes, select all species at the bottom, that will take you to the entry but there are no pics.
http://inventory.ent.ncsu.edu/forms/index.cfm
It will take a while for the search boxes to appear.
This message was edited Feb 17, 2008 6:26 PM
The end box 'any synonyms' states 'no' for Ululodes quadrimaculata.
Edited to say that doesn't mean U. quadrimaculatus isn't a synonym for U. quadripunctatus
This message was edited Feb 17, 2008 6:32 PM
The best information I can find seems to indicate that they are synonyms and that U. quadripunctatus is the current name. We have an entry already in BugFiles for U. quadripunctatus here: http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/2404/
and that seems to be the place for Melody's images,
Ken
Thanks everyone!
