Die lente het na Noord-Kalifornië gekom en motte is op die vlerk. Ek het die naweek 'n vinnige rit tot by die Sierra-heuwels geneem en teen die steil hange bokant die Amerikaanse rivier gestap.. Above is pictured Xanthothrix ranunculi f. albipuncta (Noctuidae: Stiriinae). It happens to be sitting on a beautiful california poppy. The hostplant, egter, is Coreopsis stillmanii and grows in small patches of serpentine soils on southern facing slopes along the central valley. Hier is 'n Xanthothrix sitting on the host.
This moth was originally described as a form of X. ranunculi in 1925 (form roughly equals subspecies today), and then completely forgotten about and unseen until 1990. It was left out of a major revision of the subfamily, so the legitimate status as a subspecies or full species remains unknown. Bly ingeskakel.
