This is the 3rd "Beauty" now added to the site (Tulip Tree Beauty, Pale Beauty), and they are all geometridae (inchworms). I often come across melanistic (dark form) Oak Beauties in my yard and have shown one next to a more typically colored individual.
While, as mentioned, they are geometers, their bodies are stout, more in keeping with your average noctuid.
The above head-on photo shows the banded legs that are present in all forms. I couldn't help but notice how the melanistic individual's face looks like one of those long-eared bats.
Here's another variation that showed up on June 7, 2005. Still retains those white-ringed legs.
