Pyrrharctia isabella (Smith, 1797)

Smith, J. E. & Abbot, J. (1797). The Natural History of the rarer Lepidopterous
Insects of Georgia, vol. 2: p. 131, pl. 66. Described in the genus Phalaena
(Bombyx).

TAB. LXVI. PHALAENA ISABELLA. CREAM DOT STRIPE TIGER MOTH.

ELEPHANTOPUS SCABER. LINN. ROUGH-LEAVED ELEPHANT'S-FOOT.

Ph. Bombyx elinguis, alis deflexis nigro punctatis: primoribus fulvis: posticis
roseis, antennis flavis.

Translation of the Latin diagnosis: Ph. Bombyx without a tongue, with deflexed
wings dotted black: the fore wings fulvous: the hind wings rosy, the antennae
yellow.

This rare species feeds on the Wild Plantain, Corn, and Peas. It formed its web
and enclosed itself June 24th; the moth appeared on the 5th of July.

The hind wings, the abdomen, and the caterpillar of this, all evince its near
affinity to the four Phalaenae last described, however different at first sight.
If in the Ph. Placentia we may seem to have followed too much the example of our
predecessors in giving an unmeaning denomination, we hope to atone for it in the
present instance, as the name Isabella well expresses the colour of the moth to
which we have applied it, and at the same time preserves the analogy of the
tribe, being a female proper name.

Hampson, G. F. (1901). Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British
Museum, vol. 3: pp. 319-320, text-fig. 144. As Diacrisia isabella.

1821. Diacrisia isabella.
Phalaena isabella, Abbot & Smith, Lep. Georg. ii. pl. 66 (1797); Kirby, Cat.
Het. p. 244.
Pyrrharctia californica, Pack. Proc. Ent. Soc. Philad. iii. p. 121 (1864).

♂. Brownish yellow-buff; femora scarlet above; tibiae and tarsi blackish above;
abdomen with dorsal, lateral, and sublateral series of black spots. Fore wing
with traces of antemedial and medial lines acutely angled on median nervure
where on the former there is a black point; a black point in lower angle of cell
and two beyond it; traces of a postmedial line excurved between veins 5 and 3;
an oblique blackish streak from apex, and a subterminal series of points on each
side of veins 5 to 2. Hind wing semihyaline yellowish, the termen slightly
tinged with scarlet; a blackish mark on discocellulars and point at lower angle
of cell; a subterminal series of obscure black spots.

♀. Hind wing orange-scarlet, the inner area more orange.

Hab. U.S.A., N. York, Trenton Falls, 2 ♂, 3 ♀, Massachusetts 3 ♂, 1 ♀, Grote &
Zeller Colls., California. Exp. 50-60 millim.

Seitz, A. (1919). Isia. In: Seitz, A. (ed.), The Macrolepidoptera of the World,
vol. 6, The American Bombyces and Sphinges: p. 309, pl. 39 d (German edition:
Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 6: 309). As Isia isabella.

I. isabella Sm. & Abb. (= californica Pack.) (39 d). Thorax and forewings yolk-
coloured; hindwings in the ♂ lighter, in the ♀ in the distal part more reddish-
yellow; abdomen reddish-yellow. Forewing often with small black dots and a loam-
coloured shade, strewn either more sparsely or more densely. -- Egg
hemispherically, white, with a polygonical network noticeable only under the
microscope. Larva anteriorly and posteriorly black, the 4 middle segments above
haired more rusty-brown, each with a dense hair-brush on the dorsum. At the
sides, above the stigmata, a light stripe, being broadly interrupted on each
ring-indentation. On trees (cherry, oak) as well as on numerous low plants
(Plantago, Solidago, Chenopodium, Compositae etc.). The authors figure the
larvae on Elephantopus scaber. Pupa yellowish-brown, in a felt-like web.
Everywhere in the United States, in the east and west, from Canada to Texas, in
summer common; the larva is particularly common in autumn, before hibernating,
running across the roads.