We held a Master Naturalist Mothing last week. If you have never been a "moth-er" I will explain the joys and annoyances of a session. First let's set the scene. Imagine a white sheet on a frame with a bright mercury vapor lamp casting a strange glow.
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| Owlfly with mayflies and a leaf hopper |
Moths, other insects and hundreds of tiny mayflies are drawn to the light, preferring this wavelength to a normal light bulb. Why, no one knows, although a lot of theories are discussed at
Live Science. One of my favorite insects was this owlfly above, identified by the large eyes and the knob on the end of its antennae.
The only large silk moth we found was the imperial moth. This species is also the only silk moth coming to our deck light so far this year. For us, this was the chance to see a moth up close and personal. The big feathery antennae identify it as a male (no surprise there!)
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| Bisected honey locust moth - Sphingicampa bisecta |
The honey locust moth above was a new species for Bull Mills. The first site I looked for it showed no sightings in Missouri although they were seen in surrounding states. Other maps show it is common here, the food for another blog. Meanwhile, I put it in a bug box to confirm its identity and an hour later found over 120 eggs. I can just imagine her saying "Thanks, I really needed that."
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| Luciana underwing - Catocala luciana |
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| Grape leaf folder moth |
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| Banded tussock moth - Halysidota tessellaris |
The mercury vapor lamp casts an eerie glow on everyone. In addition to the ubiquitous mayflies there were lots of other tiny flying insects on the sheet, our clothes, in our hair, and more intimate locations. This is only if you get close to the light so there are generally three strategies. 1) Ignore the tiny bugs and mayflies crawling on you and plunge in to find critters. 2) Hang back and come in just when an interesting find is announced. 3) Flying bugs? No way!
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| Two-lined spittlebug |
"Mothing is like a box of chocolates." (Jay Barber)
Meanwhile, back at the lamp, we were finding lots of non-moths, ranging from 5/5 inch (70 mm)
Eastern Dobsonflies to tiny 4mm leafhoppers, the
Two-lined Spittlebug. We were fortunate to have guest lepidopterist/entomologist Kevin Firth and daughter Lindsey with us to sort them out. There is a lot more to see in
this Flickr album. We even had enough mayflies that everyone who stayed close to the sheet could take some home on and in their clothes!
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| Did I mention there were lots of mayflies? |
The honey locust moth above was a new species for Bull Mills. The first site I looked for it showed no sightings in Missouri although they were seen in surrounding states. Other maps show it is common here, the food for another blog. Meanwhile, I put it in a bug box to confirm its identity and an hour later found over 120 eggs. I can just imagine her saying "Thanks, I really needed that."
