CLOSED: What kind of moth is this?

He has been on my house for two days, and now he's IN the house...hope the picture is clear enough for you all to make out.

Here is another shot...sorry it is a little blurry, my digital is really not good with closeups!

Sorry I should add that his wings have a lot of beautiful veining in them, and he really is a sort of yellow ochre color.

I think it's this Xanthotype urticaria

http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=6740

There aren't too many geometrid moths that hold their wings like that

I've had some BIG moths on my carport where a light stays on at night. I thought, when I first saw your moth, that it was the same as mine. I saw one on a bedroom window (outside) so I photographed it, and like you, the photo was a little fuzzy. But I put the photo through the MS Picture It program and made it real clear, but it made it look kinda fake.......But when I compared it to yours, it doesn't look like yours at all. But, it is WEIRD looking. Maybe someone can identify mine too.

Von

Von, your moth is a Polyphemus moth, Antheraea polyphemus. It's much larger than morrigan's moth. That picture came out well, I think.

Polyphemus moth:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/146/

I believe you are correct Claypa. And yes, their wing span is at least 4-5 inches wide. I went to the link you gave and found the one that looks the most like it.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/810/

I wonder what they eat that they would be attracted to my house....I live close to a mountain with plenty of trees. By morning they can barely fly around.....my dog is very intrigued by them and tries to play with them.... which ends up tearing their wings off. There are lots of them out there at night....I'm not sure they are all the same family or species....I will have to notice tomorrow.

The following is the original photo taken.....he was outside on my bedroom window. He is on a black screen. The MS program turned the screen blue, which shows him up better.

Von

The larvae eat the leaves of trees, but the adults probably don't eat at all. They're probably attracted to the lights of your house. Take some more pics, start a new thread and show us what's there!

Hay, thanks Claypa! There were actually two as I discovered. The one on the screen did not have the veining in his wings and looks like the link you provided. The other one that was inside the house, held its wings the same way, BUT had beautiful chocolate brown distinctive veining in the wings! Are they the same species, ie: male, female?

I couldn't say. You could look around that moth photographers site and see if it's there. The Tulip-tree Beauty is a possibility. I saw one this week but couldn't get a very good picture, even with the editing like Von did to his pics.

http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=6599

You can tell some moth's gender by looking at their wings but I can't think of too many. As a general rule, males have wider antennae, like feathers.

Here's a Tulip-tree Beauty, but they can look very different from this too. (It's at my work, the white stuff in the background is paint overspray on a sliding glass door. The painters work somewhere else now. LOL)