Silphium Borer Moth (Papapaima silphii), listed as Endangered, prefers sunny areas where its host plants, Silphium species including prairie dock, cup-plant, rosinweed, and compass plant, exist in good numbers, which tend to be wet to dry-mesic prairies. They can survive on plants other than Silphium species when necessary, during flooding situations, for example. Adults fly early-September to early-October. Members of the Papaipema genus belong to the Noctuidae superfamily, also known as owlet moths. The vast majority of this family is nocturnal and are sensitive to fire. They can be threatened if fires are used in consecutive years at sites where the species is known to occur.
