Red Waist

Thanks to Mary Ester and George Bollis (Class of 2020) for this beautiful photo of a red-waisted floral moth (Syngamia florella).  This photo was taken at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area on 2/22/2020 during the final walk of the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory (FMEL) Volunteer Nature Stewardship Class for the ORCA.  Thanks to Dr. Lawrence Reeves, Research Assistant Professor, FMEL, for confirming Mary Ester’s identification.

Also called the orange spotted flower moth, this 1/2″ beauty is diurnal (active during the day).  It is given to short, fast flights and is said to like to settle on the underside of foliage.

Its larval host plants are in the madder family, Rubiaceae, and include woodland false buttonweed (Spermacoce remote), a low-growing native with purplish leaves.