NOCTUIIDAE

Hypena bijugalis

Most snout moths (named for the long palpi), genus Hypena, are greyish and rather undistinguished. I had no idea until I saw this beauty that any of them were as strikingly marked as Hypena bijugalis. A neighbour brought me the pupa of this moth, so I have no personal knowledge of the larval foodplant , though it is listed in books as dogwood (Cornus). Apparently only the female is strikingly marked like this one. The male is the usual undistinguished greyish brown. Perhaps the striking markings of the female are an example of “disruptive coloration”, in which the sharply contrasting colours disguise the shape of the insect.