National Moth Week

On Wednesday evening, July 26, three Normanites (including @ehjalmarson) gathered in a field near a wooded area south of Lake Thunderbird and setup a bright light pointed at a white table cloth draped over a ladder. As the sun was setting we took off on a walk and looked for moths and other creatures in the area. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I was hoping maybe I would see a handful of familiar species and, if I was lucky, a few new ones. We immediately encountered a large moth that was unfamiliar to me (Sad Underwing, Catocala maestosa) and continued to see other species we didn't know - as well as a mouse and at least 2 species of frogs.

When we circled back to our light setup we were excited to find that a number of moths and other insects had been drawn to the light. We stayed in place for another 2 hours, photographing every new species we saw. In the end, we documented about 30 distinct species of moths, a few of which we have not yet identified. The most common moth we saw was Grape Leaffolder (Desmia funeralis), followed by Olive Arta Moth (Arta olivalis), and Light-ribboned Wave (Leptostales ferruminaria).

Other interesting sightings include:
Banded Net-winged Beetle (Calopteron reticulatum )
Lesser Ivory-marked Beetle (Eburia mutica)
Rhynchomitra microrhina

It was a very enjoyable and fruitful evening! We all added several species to our life lists.

Posted on 28 de julho de 2017, 02:10 PM by zdufran