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Announcing National Moth Week 2012: July 23-29

National Moth Week
Posted October 20, 2011

mothinusawithstars8 300x165 Announcing National Moth Week 2012: July 23 29

National Moth Week

National Moth Week (www.nationalmothweek.org) is a celebration of moths and biodiversity. It is being held July 23-29, 2012.
Why moths? With more than 10,000 species in North America alone, moths offer endless options for study, education, photography and fun. Moths can be found everywhere from inner cities, to suburban backyards and the most wild and remote places. The diversity of moths is simply astounding. Their colors and patterns are often dazzling or so cryptic that they define camoflauge. Shapes and sizes span the gamut with some as small as a pinhead and others as large as a hand. Most moths are nocturnal creatures of the night, and need to be sought to see – others fly like butterflies during the day. Finding moths is easy and can be as simple as leaving a porch light on and checking it after dark. Serious moth aficionados use special lights and baits to attract them. Moths are also featured widely in literature and art providing a different angle for enjoyment and study. Moth Nights are often held by nature groups and allow an easy opportunity for an introduction or for more serious pursuits. National Moth Week brings together everyone interested in moths to celebrate these amazing insects. It is hoped that groups and individuals from all the across the country will spend some time during National Moth Week looking for moths and sharing what they’ve found. During National Moth Week attend a Moth Night event, start one, get some friends and neighbors together and check the porch lights from time to time, set up a light and see what is in your own backyard, read literature about moths. But no matter what, participate; the richness of moths is sure to fascinate. National Moth Week: Exploring Nighttime Nature.

Posted 20 October 2011 § Administrative ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

National Moth Week 2012: July 23-July 29

National Moth Week
Posted October 19, 2011

white lined sphinx moth john 300x189 National Moth Week 2012: July 23 July 29

White Lined Sphinx

Hi Daniel…it has been a long time, so I hope all is well on your end. I visit WTB often and the site remains incredible! I sent an email to you about two weeks ago, but to a different email address so I suspect it wound up somewhere in cyberland. Julian Donahue suggested I reach out via this email so hopefully it will now connect. I understand you and Julian are neighbors. Cool, two bug guys as neighbors, what are the odds?
So,  I wanted to touch base about an exciting project we are working on. It’s called National Moth Week and is basically a cool way to spotlight moths and biodiversity. Hopefully it will bring a lot of people together with similar interests and turn on a lot of people to moths! We have a website up and running, though it needs work (like an interactive map, photos etc.) but its a start and is now being modified regularly to increase content and locations. Its at www.nationalmothweek.org We’ve got a cool logo too. BugGuide, Discover Life, BAMONA and Moth Photographers Group are on board and Dave Wagner and John Himmelman have also lent their support and will likely run or coordinate events. There has been unanimous positive feedback about holding a National Moth Week next year from everyone we’ve reached out to. We are also talking to LepSoc, AES, ESA, and others about being partners. The more we can spread the word about moths and biodiversity, the better!
By a bit of luck, the date of National Moth Week corresponds with the LepSoc meeting July 23-29 2012. These dates were actually selected to correspond to the southern moth night events already planned down that way (in NC, SC, MD, VA, GA, FL). (http://www.bwwells.org/mothnight) We didnt know that LepSoc was holding their meeting at the same time, but its perfect.
Since we started floating this idea about a few weeks ago, the support and positive feedback has been incredible. People\groups have said they would hold moth night events that week in NJ, CT, MA, NY, AL, MI, WI, WA and likely in PR, CA and TX and that is only in the first week of promoting this! The goal is to have at least one Moth Night event that week in every state. I think we can do it and bring tremendous focus and publicity on moths and biodiversity and all the various groups participating. It looks like CT and Mass may have statewide Moth Night events during the week at multiple locations.
We would also like to partner\collaborate with as many groups\organizations\individuals as possible and WTB is perfect! We are basically going to be the cheerleader and clearinghouse for Moth Night events around the country. We see this as very different from the National Noth Night held in the UK that is very data oriented and formalized. With National Moth Week each Moth night can be whatever it is. A single person looking at moths at their porch light, to organized events designed to bring people together. They can also be simply for naturalist purposes or for serious data collection. Whatever the organizer decides works for them is fine.
We’d love to have WTB as a collaborator and link it to the website and Facebook and vice versa and have help promoting this . I think all of us together can do something fun and incredible to bring attention to moths and more broadly biodiversity. I think these events and National Moth Week might just be the perfect venue for raising environmental awareness across the country.
Look forward to hearing from you about this and hopefully WTB as a partner,  Dave
David Moskowitz

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Posted 19 October 2011 § Administrative ‡ Comments (0) °

Pandora Sphinx

Camouflage Moth?
Location: Elmhurst, IL
October 12, 2011 11:40 am
I just saw a bug that looks like a camouflaged moth. I have never seen anything like it. it is about 4 inches long and maybe 5 inches wide. It looked like a big leaf on the ground until we looked closer.
Signature: Michael B.

pandora sphinx michael 300x259 Pandora Sphinx

Pandora Sphinx

Dear Michael,
The Pandora Sphinx is really an amazing looking moth.

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Posted 14 October 2011 § Hummingbird Moths, Sphinx Moths or Hawk Moths ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Plume Moth from Japan

Mosquito on testosterone or Moth…maybe?
Location: Tsuchiura-City, Ibaraki-Prefecture, Japan
October 9, 2011 7:12 am
Dear Bugman,
I tried to submit this a few minutes ago, but I didn’t get a confirmation message. When I sent you a message through your comment form, there was a confirmation, so I’ve decided to try again. …The second time didn’t work either. I’m going to try to send one photo at a time. I’m very sorry if you receive this inquiry several times.
I took this photo on October 9, 2011 in Tsuchiura, Japan (Pacific coast, about 60 km north of Tokyo). It was early afternoon, and the insect was on my car and not moving much.
I think it must be some kind of moth, but the wings are so small I can’t imagine how it can fly! The legs and head look quite a lot like those of a (giant!) mosquito. Also, interestingly, the tail end of the abdomen curves up slightly.
It’s certainly an interesting insect, but I cannot find anything that even remotely resembles it. Can you help?
Signature: Canadian bugging out in Japan

plume moth japan 300x206 Plume Moth from Japan

Plume Moth

Dear Canadian bugging out in Japan,
You are correct that this is a moth.  Most people don’t know how to classify Plume Moths from the family Pterophoridae when they encounter them since they don’t look like most moths.   We get frequent requests to identify “T-Bugs”, an unofficial name used by many lay folks to describe the shape of the wings on Plume Moths.  Your individual looks very much like a North American species we located on BugGuide, Geina perischelidactylus, commonly called the Grape Plume Moth, and we suspect it might be the same species or a closely related species.  With the great increased ease of global human transportation, and the propensity for people to legally or illegally transport goods and produce, many invasive exotic species are being introduced to distant locations, and if conditions are suited, including climate and a readily available food source, they can become established and naturalized.

Did you receive my inquiry?
October 9, 2011 6:49 am
Dear Bugman,
I just submitted two photos of a moth-like insect, but I didn’t get any kind of confirmation and the screen didn’t change.  Also the swirly thing next to the send button didn’t stop.
I signed my letter ‘Canadian bugging out in Japan’
I’m sorry to bother you, I know you’re busy, but could you please confirm?
Thank you!
Melissa

Hi Melissa,
We did receive your inquiry, and your letter is posted to What’s That Bug?  It is physically impossible for our small staff to respond to every request we receive, and sometimes we get inquiries like this, and if there is no photo attached, we are sometimes unable to track the previous email request, so we generally request that if people do not get a response, and we always try to respond directly to the request as well as posting significant letters and photos, we hope that our readership will not take it personally and just resubmit the entire request after a week.  If they note “second request” in the subject line, that will catch our attention.  Catchy subject lines are critically important if you want your letter to stand out from the rest.

Dear Daniel,
Thank you so much for such a quick reply to my messages. I think you may very well be right that the plume moth was somehow imported from North America. I couldn’t find anything resembling it while searching for Japanese bugs.
I apologize again for the multiple messages. It seems that my pictures were too big to send together, but rather than getting an error message, it just kept on spinning away.
Thanks a lot for this wonderful site – fun and useful. I hope you can continue doing this work that you so obviously lobe for a long time.
Take care,
Melissa in Japan

Posted 09 October 2011 § Plume Moths ‡ Comments (0) °

Fig Sphinx

Really bug Moth?
Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL
October 3, 2011 1:50 pm
Stepped outside this afternoon and this guy was sitting on the porch. It looks like a moth to me but is the size of a hummingbird. I’ve seen some strange bugs since moving here and this one is top of the list.
Signature: VG

ficus sphinx vg 300x231 Fig Sphinx

Fig Sphinx

Dear VG,
Judging by the wear and tear on the wings and the missing scales, this Fig Sphinx is not a young individual. You can see the Sphingidae of the Americas for some wonderful information on the Fig Sphinx.  In flight, Sphinx Moths are often mistaken for hummingbirds.

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Posted 04 October 2011 § Hummingbird Moths, Sphinx Moths or Hawk Moths ‡ Comments (0) °

Maple Spanworm

Moth name
Location: NW CT.
October 2, 2011 1:48 pm
We live in the woods of NW Connecticut and we often see this moth. It looks like a leaf when in a plant.
Signature: Welles

maple spanworm welles 300x216 Maple Spanworm

Maple Spanworm

Dear Welles,
We were relatively certain that this was a Geometrid Moth, and it took us a bit of searching before we found a match with the Maple Spanworm, Ennomos magnaria, which is represented on BugGuide.  Other common names for the species include The Notched Wing, Notched-wing Geometer
and Notch-wing Moth.  It seems that both the adult and the caterpillar are excellent camouflage artists, and BugGuide indicates:  “Larva: a superb twig mimic – body green, brown, or gray, dappled with minute white spotting; pronounced leafscar-like swellings; head flattened and directed forward with long antennae; legs of third thoracic segment greatly swollen at their base, commonly held out from body; dorsum of second and fifth abdominal segments, and venter of third with raised transverse ridges; eighth abdominal segment with low, darkly pigmented dorsal warts.”

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Posted 02 October 2011 § Geometrid Moths ‡ Comments (0) °

Spanish Moth from Brazil

Pink and black moth from Brazil
Location: Araraquara, Sao Paulo, Brazil
October 2, 2011 11:24 am
Hello bugman!
I have a voracious eater coming to visit my little garden in Araraquara, SP, Brazil. The larva is black with white spots and sparse black hair. It’s head is red. (I’ll try to get a photo the next time I see them.) They ate all of one type of plant in my garden (I don’t know what it is/was because they ate it all before I could see it bloom. I suspect it’s an iris or tulip of some sort. Bulbs! They’re growing back now.) I gathered a couple of the pupa and hung on to them until they emerged into this very awesome little moth. All of this has happened in our winter months.
ps. Sorry if this is a re-post! I felt my initial images were too large. icon sad Spanish Moth from Brazil
Signature: – Irisless Gardener

spanish moth pupae brazil 300x206 Spanish Moth from Brazil

Spanish Moth adult and pupae

Dear Irisless Gardener,
We recognized this moth as a submission from several years ago, but we could not remember its identity.  We searched our archives and found the Spanish Moth.  Here is what Karl, who frequently contributes to our website had to add:  “This is actually an Owlet Moth ((Noctuidae: Hadeninae), specifically a Spanish Moth (Xanthopastis timais). The species is extremely widespread, ranging from New York to Argentina and including all of the Caribbean. The background color ranges from white to bright pink but the rest of the markings are fairly consistent and distinctive.”   The University of Florida Featured Creatures posting states:  “Host Plants  Spanish moth larvae mainly feed on spider lilies and other Amaryllidaceae, plus Iridaceae and Liliaceae …  in lab rearings. Host plant records in Amaryllidaceae include amaryllis, Clivia, Cooperia, Eucharis, Haemanthus, Hippeastrum, Hymenocallis, Narcissus, Pancratium, Polianthes, and Zephyranthes; in Iridaceae, Iris; and in Liliaceae, Crinum, Leucojum and Lilium.  Damage  Spanish moth larvae cause damage by chewing gregariously on leaves, bulbs, and rhizomes of the host plants. ”  That supports your observations that the larvae eat your iris.

spanish moth brazil 300x206 Spanish Moth from Brazil

Spanish Moth

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Posted 02 October 2011 § Owlet Moths ‡ Comments (0) °

Indian Meal Moth and Caterpillar

New uninvited guests
Location: Maryland
October 1, 2011 5:46 pm
Hi,
I am trying ti ID these characters.
Don’t know if their related or not.
Finding the grub/larvae mostly on ceiling, and on walls. Has a ”silk” thread. Also, Have seen a fly? with silver/grey/tan on wings both appeared around same time.See third photo. About 7mm-1cm in length. When crushed(sorry)insides leave a very pronounced black stain.
May have come in with some birdseed, though not sure.These insects appear daily, even after thorough removal of all visible specimens. Could really use your help. Thanks
Signature: Eric, The Bugged.

indian meal moth cat eric 300x239 Indian Meal Moth and Caterpillar

Caterpillar of the Indian Meal Moth

Hi Eric,
The moth in your photo is an Indian Meal Moth, Plodia interpunctella, a species that infests stored grain products as well as bird seed.  The caterpillar also looks very much like the Indian Meal Moth Caterpillar images posted to BugGuide, and since the appearance of both the moth and caterpillar happened at the same time, it is a fair assumption that they are related.  You might want to remove the bird seed and we would also recommend cleaning out the pantry to make sure they haven’t infested the oatmeal, nuts or cornmeal you might have stored on the shelf. 

indian meal moth eric 300x237 Indian Meal Moth and Caterpillar

Indian Meal Moth

Hi Friends,
Think I have found answer to my dilemma:
Indian Meal Moths!!! But if you have the time please confirm this.
Thanks again for your time, Eric

Hi again Eric,
We did not notice that you had already self identified your Indian Meal Moths prior to our creating this post.

Hello,
Let me first say thank you for your fast reply. I did manage to ferret
out the ID of these. But one thing is for sure I have found another interesting site to visit and
find it to be not only a valuable resource, but rather entertaining.
Best Regards, and Thank You again,
Eric

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Posted 02 October 2011 § Clothes Moth Caterpillar § Pantry Moths, Clothes Moths, Case-Bearers and Meal Moths ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

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