OMG, that is a SPECTACULAR butterfly! Wow!

Can't find anything similar, check with your nearest butterfly house to see if they have stocked this recently.

That does it, I'm moving to south Texas!
It's a uranus moth, urania fulgens, a day-flying moth.
MissSherry

Here is a link that might be useful: Urania Fulgens

Wow! How neat you were able to run over and get some pictures of this!
I am with MissSherry, maybe we need to invest in a Butterfly Observers timeshare opportunity in Texas.

Thank you, thank you, Miss Sherry, for identifying this beauty. Thanks to the rest of you for looking for me. This makes me want to just stay outside for the rest of the month just IN CASE anything else unusual decides to fly by. The owner of the nursery and I have become good friends, so if she sees anyting, she will call me. I went back later on yesterday in hopes of taking more pictures but by then he had flown.

Pert,

Wonderful pic. What a great find. Mike Quinn is very much interested in documenting rarities. Please e-mail him the pic, along with the date,place found,and county. It may be a new record for your county! Congratulations!

Please report any additional records to
mike.quinn@tpwd.state.tx.us or 512-912-7059

Good call, Miss Sherry.

Never suspected a moth, couldn't see the antennae clearly.

It is however in the "Swallowtail Moth" family!

Mr. Quinn has posted sightings and a TX county map on this Web page

Thank everyone for your interest. Yes, Larry, the moth is in the Swallowtail "Moth" family. The antennae on this moth were as distinct as most moths are. Even after I looked at ALL the pictures I took I couldn't really tell. I did contact Mike at the website Miss Sherry posted for us. I sent him a couple of pictures and he wrote back and asked if he could post them, so one of these days you will be able to see them on that site. I think we were blessed to get to see such a rare, beautiful sight. I grateful to my friend for calling me when she saw the butterfly so I could run over there. That is two unusual ones for our area that I've seen at the plant nursery this year. Sure is fun to find a new butterfly or moth.

Those of you who said you were going to move here, come on over. We're a pretty good place to live. I'm not in South Texas (in Central), but we get some of the flying creatures as they head south. Pert

Oh, Pert. How exciting!!! According to the records, they have been following this moth for a long time- 1916. I'm sure that Mike was thrilled.

Perhaps the warmer, dryer November weather encouraged it to go further north seeking food.

I need to get me a moth book. I did not realize that there were swallowtail moths. Such a beauty.

Thanks so much for sharing. And so cool to get your pic on the site with YOUR name! Congratulations.

Wow, isn't that amazing? MissSherry, how in the world did you find this? :)

Just spectacular and Pert, you are such a lucky duck! :) Okay Geni, are you doing your LEPIDOPTERA calendar this year? Perhaps we can have a special month that is just a 'lepidoptera' page :)

I don't know, Tdog. It's already November and Geni hasn't said anything about doing a calendar. It's a pretty major undertaking.

I must say, that I have enjoyed my calendar tremendously! Wish that there was an easier way.

Well, CalSherry, I just HAD to find out what this beauty was, since it has iridescent green on it - I love green butterflies and moths, and I love iridescence on butterflies and moths, like only PVSs and scarlet bodied wasp moths have around here! :)
I started by looking up swallowtails - in particular kite-tailed swallowtails, like zebra swallowtails, but couldn't find any for northern Mexico or south Texas like Cat's. So then I did what I always do when I really want to ID something - I forgot about how pretty it was and looked at its shape and its markings. I've got a book that shows moths and butterflies from all over the world. I remembered that there was a picture of a "butterfly" in it that I thought had vertical lines on it and tails. I looked it up, and found that there were actually two, both in the uraniidae family of MOTHS! The madagascan sunset moth is from Africa and has three tails and vertical lines and Sloane's urania has one long tail and vertical lines, some of which are green, just like Cat's swallowtail moth. So then I Googled urania moths and Bingo! it took me right to some web sites that had pictures of urania moths just like Cat's!
This moth is so beautiful! It's to die for, or should I say, to move for! :)
MissSherry

I'm holding out for a Sunset Moth now. It has the colors of this one plus the oranges and reds and lots of others. I told Randa at the plant nursery that I was expecting her to locate one of these for me next. Today I went back over just to check for any unusual ones and did see a bordered patch that I don't see often and lots of other tiny butterflies along with the monarchs and queens which are still flying around. I did get a good close up of a sleepy orange after he finally decided to be still and be photographed.

By the way, they've already posted my county on the map on Mike's website but my pictures aren't on there yet.

After I heard from Miss Sherry on the id of the moth, my nephew found it in a book of his and contacted me too. That one will be hard to beat this year, but with all the hurricanes and unusually warm weather we've had, no telling what we could see yet. Guess I just need to stay outside more.

Now, you'll laugh but I went over to Acorn Naturalists this afternoon after my trip to the doctor and in this deck of bug cards there was a ÂUrania Moth!!! I couldn't believe my eyesÂOMG, I'd never even seen one of these before and here is another one, after having seen the one this morning here on our forum! The one in the deck was from MadagascarÂit was the Urania Riphaeus.

MissSherry--thanks for sharing your ID process, I went the kite route also and became skeptical, but my World ID book is butterflies only.

Pert--are you saying your moth was a new county record, that would be great!

Larry, according to the website, it looks like this was the first time it had been spotten in Bell County. Looks like it hasn't been spotted but a few times in Texas period. I'm so grateful to my friend for calling me over after she spotted it or I probably would never have seen it. I've really been on the alert now when I'm outside just in case something else new is blowing through. My camera is always ready.

I was thinking kite, also. Miss Sherry, what is the name of your world book of Bfs and Moths?

Linda, my book is the Smithsonian Handbooks Butterflies and Moths. I got mine at the gift shop at Calloway Gardens' butterfly house, but I think I've also seen it for sale at Amazon.com.
MissSherry

Thanks, Miss Sherry.

BTW, did you all notice just how cute the Urania cat is?

Just want you to know that I heard from Mike Quinn today and my picture has now been added to his website and our record sighting for Killeen, Bell County, Texas has been duly recorded. I think that's neat and Miss Sherry, you are part of it.

I've seen lots of butterflies today, but nothing I'd never seen before. I did get to photograph a buckeye for the first time. Queens were everywhere and a few Monarchs. Had lots of the tiny butterflies--crescents and checkerspots I think. I saw a couple of sulfurs that were a bit different, a red admiral, a question mark, gulf frits (as usual), the tiniest little skipper I ever saw, other skippers, a couple of snouts, a black swallowtail, lots of painted ladies, small orange sulfurs, and another bordered patch. All and all it was a good butterfly day.

The website where the urania is posted is:
http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabast/Urania.html

Your picture is the best one, Cat!
And I DID notice that cute cat, Linda! Wouldn't you love to raise some urania moth caterpillars? Can you imagine how gorgeous a newly emerged adult must be?!
MissSherry

Pert...

Lucky you! Getting to photograph that beauty!!! Several have been sighted around south Texas and Mike Quinn has been keeping track of them...as well as numerous other critters. Our local NABA chapter, our Texas List Server and the whole rest of Texas keep him busy!

That moth was one of the hot topics last month when we had our annual butterfly festival. We've had lots of rarity sightings lately...but alas, that beautiful moth still eludes me.

~ Cat (south tip of Texas)

Well, Cat, at least you've heard of the moth before. I didn't know what it was, but thanks to Miss Sherry found out about it AND the NABA website with the sightings and pictures. It was definitely the prettiest butterfly/moth I've seen all year. I love my little video clip too because when I look at it, it reminds me of how he/she flitted around while I was trying to take photos. Pert

Am so glad to hear that Pert. Mike keeps our local NABA website up to date...and with all that goes on around here he keeps busy...he was tracking the black witch moth, all kinds of beetles...even caught working up a sweat in the gardens of a the local center when he came down during our b'fly festival...like he doesn't have enough to do with managing the state site :o)

Would love to see your video clip - email it to me if possible. That is truly a spectacular moth...and who would of thought we'd see it out here. I think I read on the Tx listserver about numerous being sighted as they migrated? Can't rightly remember.

~ Cat

That truly is a spectacular moth! Wow! I wish we had them in California!

Stunning! Congrats, Pert, on making a new record possible and Miss Sherry on your help. We have such smart and sharp-eyed people here!

Megan
:)

Awesome! Congratulations

Awesome!
If you want to die of jealousy or a heart attack or something, take a look at the link:

Here is a link that might be useful: This one