Back with a bomolocha!

May 18, 2008

Baltimore Bomolocha

Hypena baltimoralis 

I've always liked the bomolochas.  There's a delicate wood-chippiness to them - kind of like mini-zales.  The bomolocha group have in common long labial palps and dark earthy colors. The triangular shape has led to their generalized moniker "Deltoid Moths".

As for the name Baltimore?  My guess is, and it's just a guess, that in 1854, Achille Guenee described this species for the first time from a specimen, or specimens, sent from Baltimore, Maryland.  That's often how places got attached to species.