For Now I’m Calling It The “Scorpion Moth”

Either that or the Moth That Can Touch Its Tail To Its Head:

(yeah, you’ll wanna click for the bigger picture)

Looking at it from inside the kitchen this afternoon, at first glance I thought it was some shmutz on the window screen (for scale reference it takes about 18 of those screen squares to make an inch). But upon going outside and inspecting the shmutz more closely I saw indeed it was neither flotsam nor jetsam but instead some sort of winged thing demonstrating a unique ability to bet its own butt all up in its business.

I’ve already sent an ID request off to the Butterflies and Moths of North America website, but who knows how long an answer might take — if one comes at all. So in the meantime if anyone is cozy with any entomologists, feel free to point them to this picture.

UPDATE (08.10): I got a quick reply from the contact at the above-mentioned website, who thought it might be, Platyptilia carduidactylus, a member of the plume moth group. Bugguide.net then came in with Lineodes integra, commonly called the eggplant leafroller (also the nightshade leftier). From the looks of some of the other pix on the following page, Bugguide nailed it:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/36773