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Cave Biology Data Portal
Subterranean biodiversity of North America and around the globe
AnimaliaArthropodaHexapodaInsectaLepidopteraErebidaeScoliopteryx

Herald Moth
Scoliopteryx libatrix (Linnaeus, 1758)

Taxonomy

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Subphylum Hexapoda
Class Insecta
Order Lepidoptera
Family Erebidae
Genus Scoliopteryx
Species Scoliopteryx libatrix (Linnaeus, 1758)

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class
Trogloxene
Realm
Terrestrial

Distribution

Range

Known from 23 counties across eight states.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Tennessee

Counties

Alabama
Jackson, Madison
Georgia
Dade, Walker
Iowa
Jackson
Illinois
Carroll, Hardin, Jackson, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Union
Indiana
Lawrence, Monroe
Kentucky
Carter, Edmonson, Jackson, Lee
Oklahoma
Delaware
Tennessee
Franklin, Hamilton, Marion, Overton, Sevier

Conservation and management

NatureServe

G5 Secure

G1G2G3G4G5▲

National ranks

Canada
N5 Secure
United States
NNR

Subnational ranks

New Brunswick
SU Unrankable
Northwest Territories
SU Unrankable
Alberta
S4 Apparently Secure
Newfoundland and Labrador
SNR Unranked
Ontario
S5 Secure
British Columbia
S5 Secure
Saskatchewan
S4 Apparently Secure
Prince Edward Island
SU Unrankable
Quebec
SNR Unranked
Manitoba
S4 Apparently Secure
Yukon
S4 Apparently Secure
Nova Scotia
SU Unrankable
Minnesota
SNR Unranked
Idaho
S3 Vulnerable
Arkansas
SNR Unranked
Missouri
SNR Unranked
Michigan
SNR Unranked
Alabama
S2 Imperiled
Pennsylvania
S4 Apparently Secure
Vermont
SNR Unranked
Wyoming
SNR Unranked
Indiana
SNR Unranked
Montana
SNR Unranked
Wisconsin
SNR Unranked
Kentucky
SNR Unranked
Illinois
SNR Unranked
Oklahoma
S3 Vulnerable

State and federal status

Not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act

References

  • Banta, A.M. 1907. The fauna of Mayfield's Cave. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 67: 1–114. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/60987.
  • Barr, T.C., Jr. & Kuehne, R.A. 1971. Ecological studies in the Mammoth Cave system of Kentucky. II. The Ecosystem. Annales de Speleologie 26: 47–96. doi:10.5038/1827-806X.3.1.10
  • Fenolio, D.B., Niemiller, M.L., Slay, M.E. & Carter, E.T. 2018. Biological inventories of caves in the Ozarks of northeastern Oklahoma: December 2018 field report. Report to Oklahoma Biological Survey. San Antonio Zoo, San Antonio, Texas, USA. 25 pp.
  • Harker, D.F., Jr. & Barr, T.C., Jr. 1979. Caves and associated fauna of Eastern Kentucky, Volume 3. Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, Frankfurt, Kentucky, USA. 130 pp.
  • Hobbs, III., H.H. 1994. Assessment of the ecological resources of the caves of Russell Cave National Monument, Jackson County, Alabama and of selected caves at the Lookout Mountain Unit of Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park, Dade County, Georgia and Hamilton County, Tennessee. 200 pp.
  • Lawson, K.M., Schotz, A.R., Jenkins, A.J., Armbruster, J.W., Black, C., Callahan, M., Goertzen, L., Hansen, C., Stephen, C.D.R., Werneke, D., Mendonca, M. & Molina, E. 2021. Planning level survey of Redstone Arsenal for at-risk species and ecologically significant communities. Environmental Management Division, U.S. Army Garrison, Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama, USA. 402 pp.
  • Lewis, J.J. 2005. A biological inventory of caves of the Cumberland Plateau. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 156 pp.
  • McGregor, S.W., Rheams, K.F., O'Neil, P.E., Moser, P.H. & Blackwood, R. 1994. Biological, geological, and hydrological investigations in Bobcat, Matthews, and Shelta caves and other selected caves in north Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. 226 pp.
  • McGregor, S.W., O'Neil, P.E., Rheams, K.F., Moser, P.H. & Blackwood, R. 1997. Biological, geological, and hydrological investigations in Bobcat, Matthews, and Shelta caves and other selected caves in north Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama Bulletin 166: 1–198.
  • Peck, S.B. & Lewis, J.J. 1978. Zoogeography and evolution of the subterranean invertebrate faunas of Illinois and southeastern Missouri. National Speleological Society Bulletin 40: 39–63.
  • Peck, S.B. 1988. A review of the cave fauna of Canada, and the composition and ecology of the invertebrate fauna of caves and mines in Ontario. Canadian Journal of Zoology 66: 1197–1213. doi:10.1139/z88-176
  • Peck, S.B. & Christiansen, K. 1990. Evolution and zoogeography of the invertebrate cave faunas of the Driftless Area of the upper Mississippi River Valley of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois, U.S.A. Canadian Journal of Zoology 68: 73–88. doi:10.1139/z90-012
  • Peck, S.B. 1995. The cave fauna of Alabama. Part II: The insects. National Speleological Society Bulletin 57: 1–19.
  • Poulson, T.L. 1961. Cave adaptation in amblyopsid cavefishes. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. 185 pp. doi:10.7302/9847
  • Reeves, W.K., Jensen, J.B. & Ozier, J.C. 2000. New faunal and fungal records from caves in Georgia, USA. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 62: 169–179. https://caves.org/wp-content/uploads/Publications/JCKS/v62/v62n3-Reeves.pdf.
  • Reeves, W.K. 2000. Invertebrate cavernicoles of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 116: 334–343. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24335885.
  • Webb, D.W., Taylor, S.J. & Krejca, J.K. 1993. The biological resources of Illinois caves and other subterranean environments. Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, Illinois, USA. 143 pp.
  • Zigler, K.S., Niemiller, M.L., Stephen, C.D.R., Ayala, B.N., Milne, M.A., Gladstone, N.S., Engel, A.S., Jensen, J.B., Camp, C.D., Ozier, J.C. & Cressler, A. 2020. Biodiversity from caves and other subterranean habitats of Georgia, USA. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 82: 125–167. doi:10.4311/2019LSC0125

How to cite this account

Scoliopteryx libatrix (Linnaeus, 1758). Cave Biology Data Portal, account SP-2038. https://cavebiology.org/species/scoliopteryx-libatrix/ (accessed 7 September 2026).

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

Spotted something wrong on this page? Report a correction. Accounts are compiled from many sources and corrections from people who know the group are the most useful email we get.

Cave Biology Data Portal

Species accounts, distributions, and conservation status for the subterranean fauna of North America and around the globe, with resources for the cave and karst research community.

Text and data CC BY 4.0. Images all rights reserved unless stated.

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