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Found on the exterior wall of my house taking cover from the rain it seems. Wingspan is approximately 5cm. I live in the South SF Bay and it has been rather cold and rainy this week.

Flies like a moth. Sits like a dragonfly.

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  • $\begingroup$ t has two long cerci, so I guess it can't be a crane fly, an odonate (dragonflies and damselflies) or a moth/butterfly. It has winged hair but it really does not look like a caddisfly. The butt seems to come back up but it does not look like a mecoptera (scorpion fly). This thing look like the wings can't move, like a plane! Was it alive? Did you notice any behaviour? Can you say anything about the mouth part? I think I would think those arenot cerci and it is some kind of moth. $\endgroup$
    – Remi.b
    Mar 16, 2018 at 20:23

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Found it. Amblyptilia acanthadactyla from Europe. He must be tired.

Update: It's a Geranium Plume Moth! Beautiful pics! I have geranium plants in my garden. Why have I never seen these? Thanks for the right find, Arthur!

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    $\begingroup$ Oohh a plume moth. That would make sense. Probably a sister species given that you found it in the USA. It could be a Geina sp. maybe or some other plume moth. $\endgroup$
    – Remi.b
    Mar 16, 2018 at 20:24
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    $\begingroup$ Could be! And it's alive, btw. I carefully captured it safely in a jar before having identified it. Since it doesn't eat people or pets, I have set it free to enjoy the low growing plants in my garden. Thanks for playing, Remi.b $\endgroup$
    – Johnny
    Mar 16, 2018 at 20:39
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    $\begingroup$ Agreed as to the family; the genus as given originally is possible (according to this site the genus has two species north of Mexico); it doesn't look like all Nearctic species have images online (the site I just linked to does have a few photos accompanying a fairly recent species checklist [the most recently described species therein dates from 2017] and does link to other sites with photos). $\endgroup$
    – user32396
    Mar 17, 2018 at 1:14
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    $\begingroup$ Could you add an image and some backgrounds why you think this is the correct ID? Such as global distribution and whether it fits OP's location and so forth. $\endgroup$
    – AliceD ♦
    Mar 17, 2018 at 9:09
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    $\begingroup$ The species as given in the answer is not correct; the genus might be (bugguide's coverage of a Nearctic congener here does look similar -- and the species is Californian); I would upvote the answer if it were changed to that species. $\endgroup$
    – user32396
    Mar 17, 2018 at 19:04

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