Lepidoptera The Pterophori Moth
The members of this remarkable group are easily distinguishable from all other moths by the feathery appearance of their wings, a feature that has gained for them the popular name of Plume Moths. Their fore wings are more or less divided or cleft, and their hind wings are generally divided into three distinct feathery plumes.
The larva are hairy, and when full fed they suspend themselves by their anal claspers, and change to the chrysalis state without any kind of covering. They are generally to be found in spring and early summer, but some of them feed in the autumn.
The chrysalides are often hairy, though some of them are perfectly smooth.
Plume moths are to be met with more or less throughout the year. Many of the earlier species appear on the wing in spring and early summer; but the late feeders emerge in the autumn, and hybernate through the winter, often taking to the wing on the mild days of our coldest months.
The Pterophori include only about forty British species, all of which, with two exceptions, belong to the family Pterophorida. The two exceptions represent as many families-one the Chrysocoridida, and the other the Alucitida.