Red-lined Moth (Heliolonche pictipennis), Mojave Desert, California - Tom Astle

I find these half-inch moths in California's Mojave Desert each spring, when they appear alongside their host plants, just a few closely related species of spring annuals, including desert dandelion and desert chicory. These are day-flying moths, and they use the flowers - which close up at night - as a safe nighttime sleep shelter. A number of diurnal desert insects take advantage of this strategy, and if you get to the desert around sunrise, you can often photograph quite a few species of flies, bees, beetles, and moths as the flowers open.