Noctuidae - Acontiinae - Eusceptis

The genus Eusceptis is a Neotropical group of what can only be called gaudy noctuids. A single species is found in North America, Eusceptis flavifimbriata, which reaches the United State in extreme southeastern Texas.

Eusceptis flavifimbriata

Most, except for one, species of Eusceptis are brightly colored moths with brown and yellow wings with a angular set of lines in the forewing accented with blue. These species are unlikely to be confused with any other group of moths. However it's just as true that they do not look particularly like the acontiines we are typically used to.

The rows of stiff setae on the ventral surface of the uncus are diagnostic for the genus. The valves are broad and apically rounded, widest near the apex; they are highly asymmetrical in almost all species and in most the right valve is more structurally complex than the left one. In all species except two the corona is concentrated in a
small cluster at the dorsal-apical corner of the valve at the apex of a rod-like thickening of the costal margin of the valve.

One species of the genus was reared from. Malvaviscus arboreus in the family Malvaceae by D. Janzen and W.
Hallwachs in Costa Rica.