Reddish Speckled Dart

Cerastis tenebrifera

April 22, 2007

This noctuid is the first new moth for the site in '07.  It was attracted to my back porchlight and hung around until morning.

I am always interested in the roots

of names given to moths, and

other animals, so I looked into this

one.  Here's what I dug up:

TENEBRI - would suggest "dark"

FERA - "An act to regulate certain payments dealing in foreign exchange, securities, the import & export of currency and acquisition of immovable property by foreigners..."

That's a lot of responsiblity to lay on the thorax of a fuzzy little moth!  However, I suspect that there's another translation for fera, probably more in line with the word "ferrous", as in rust-colored.  

Yeah, that has to be it...