Utetheisa ornatrix

Distribution: USA and Bahamas (form bella); Jamaica, Cuba and Dominican Republic (form venusta); Puerto Rico, Haiti and St.Thomas (form stretchii); Lesser Antilles (form ornatrix), and throughout central and tropical South America with a large degree of overlap between these forms.
Type Locality: North America.
Synonyms: Deiopeia stretchii Butler 1877; Deiopeia pura Butler 1877; Utetheisa daphoena Dyar 1914; Utetheisa butleri Dyar 1914 and many others.
E. Caribbean records: Montserrat; Guadeloupe; St. Martin; St. Lucia; Dominica.
Grenadines records: Bequia, Union, Canouan, Mustique, Petite Martinique, Mayero, Petit St. Vincent (E.U. Exp., No. 75).
Method of identification: illustrated in colour by Kimball (1965) pl. 3, fig. 45. Adult & Genitalia illustrated in colour on website on French Antilles Lepidoptera by Zagatti, Lalanne-Cassou & Le Duchat d'Aubigny.
Notes: The forms of U. ornatrix are discussed by Pease (1972). Typical ornatrix - the form found throughout the Lesser Antiiles - is shown above. The related introduced old world species Utetheisa pulchella Linnaeus 1758, which can be distinguished from ornatrix as the latter is much more lightly speckled on the forewing, could also be present in the Grenadines as it has been found in St. Martin; Martinique; St. Bart's; St. Lucia and Barbados.

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