I posted about the kitchen portion of the pesto project a couple days ago, but I forgot about the little beauty I discovered while harvesting the aromatic leaves.
It wasn't a moth I was familiar with, but I thought the rusty orange coloration against the brilliant green of the basil was very striking. It was pretty unperturbed by my taking cuttings from the plant it was resting on, so I took a couple of pictures while holding the harvested sprig before resettling it on another plant.
The second picture has the antlers extended, since I had disturbed it when I moved it to a new resting place, but it seemed happy enough to stay put.
It took some time to discover who had taken refuge in the herb garden, but I was finally able to identify it as a scalloped sallow moth. Their host plants are deciduous trees like poplar or cherry, but they apparently rest in leaf litter (or basil patches) during the day. I always enjoy meeting someone new when I'm out in the world.
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