''Apantesis figurata'', the figured tiger moth, is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the family

Erebidae The Erebidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwings ('' Catocala'') ...

. It was described by Dru Drury in 1773. It is found in North America from southern

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

and

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

south to Georgia and west to

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. The average length of a sample of forewings was 15.77 mm. The forewings are dark brown to black dorsally with pale buff to ivory bands. The ground colour of the hindwings is highly variable, ranging from yellow to scarlet or pink. The markings are black. There are two generations per year in northern Ohio. In the northern part of the range, adults are mostly on wing from May to June in one generation. In the southwest adults have been recorded on wing from April to October. The larvae feed on various low-growing plants, including

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as w ...

and plantain.BugGuide
/ref> This species was formerly a member of the genus ''Grammia'', but was moved to ''Apantesis'' along with the other species of the genera ''Grammia'', ''Holarctia'', and ''Notarctia''.

References

* Arctiina Moths described in 1773 Taxa named by Dru Drury {{Arctiina-stub