American Snout

The “snout” of the American snout is actually mouth parts (labial palps)!

Adults mimic a dead leaf and can be hard to find except for these lucky infrequent encounters on flowers. This species spends winters in the southern states, and then migrates northerly to repopulate areas where it can't survive winter. They're in my yard on a woodland edge for Hackberry trees that are their required larval host plant. Mysteriously, new generations of this uncommon species regularly find the trees in our yard from many states away.

I was the first person to find and report the species to state compilers for my county. Ever! As a nature enthusiast or photographer, consider contributing to the base of biological knowledge to help scientists. With environmental impacts from climate change, this type of help is even more critical. It's Libytheana carinenta on Rudbeckia subtomentosa.