Crimson Speckled

Utetheisa pulchella, the crimson-speckled flunkey, crimson-speckled footman, or Crimson-Speckled Moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. This common widespread species can be found in most of Europe (as a migrant), in the Afrotropical realm, in North Africa, in the Near East and Central Asia, in the western Indomalayan realm (not known east of Myanmar). In the United Kingdom, it is only a sporadic migrant. These moths inhabit dry open places, meadows, shrublands, grasslands, and parks.

Utetheisa pulchella has a wingspan that ranges from 29 to 42 mm. The front wings have a varied pattern of several little black spots arranged in between bigger, bright red spots. The front wings are slender, white, or cream in color. The red specks can occasionally be combined into transverse bands. The hindwings are broad and white with two black marks in the center of the cell and an erratic black border along the outer edge. The head and thorax have the same pattern as the wings and range in color from cream to buff yellow. The antennae are monofiliform and long. White background and a smooth abdomen are also present.