The Clover Looper Moth

"This is not what it seems like"
Photo by Camille Gando

Common Name: Clover Looper Moth

Scientific Name: Caenurgina crassiuscula 

Photo taken at Redwood villas, Clark, Pampanga in September 2016

     Not so long ago, a Clover Looper Moth was attracted to this White Orchid and clinged to it. Little did it know that this Orchid is not a real one. Fooled by its beauty, the moth was trapped inside the house and had nowhere to go. Slowly and peacefully, its death is like a work of art bringing the artificial orchid to life.

About Clover Looper Moths

     A medium-size (3-3.2 cm wingspan) brownish grey (male) or brown (female) moth active both during the day and night. The forewing of the male is crossed by two the antemedian one running obliquely to the lower wing margin and touching or almost touching the vertical postmedian band near the lower margin. Crassiuscula is smaller (particularly the small spring brood specimens formerly treated as sp. distincta) and less "crisply" marked than the similar C. erechtea. The female is brown, is a bit larger and has more diffuse marking than does the male.  Some larger male specimens may be very difficult to separate from C. erechtea, but these can be identified by checking the genitalia, which differ greatly in the two species.

Sources:

http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/52900-Caenurgina-crassiuscula

Photo and description by Camille Gando