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Pink Star Moth
Derrima stellata
Derrima stellata, the pink star moth, is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found from in the eastern United States from southern Maine to Florida, west to Missouri and Texas in maritime sand dunes and heathland.
From the article Derrima stellata on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
The wingspan is 21–30 mm. Adults are on wing from April to May and from July to August. There are two generations per year.
What it does
For many years, according to David L. Wagner, "the Holy Grail for moth life histories in the East Coast was the pink star moth." In 2024, however, Caterpillar Lab intern Logan Dieck discovered a small caterpillar apparently feeding on seeds of a dead pinweed plant in southern NH. By collecting more caterpillars and overwintering their pupae, caterpillar expert Sam Jaffe confirmed that these were larvae of the pink star moth.
Wikipedia: “Ecology”
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Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Derrima stellata in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 218280.