Month: May 2010

  • Moth Perfume

    From a peppermint Pericopinae.  I recorded this video on-site in northern Costa Rica a few years ago.  When I reached down to pick up this moth, it was hard to avoid noticing the behavior.  The moth, Chetone angulosa (Erebidae: Pericopina) ((used to be Arctiidae)), has a common defensive mechanism for this group – they excrete…

  • The Art of a Goose Chase

    For the last four weekends now I have been on a goose chase, for one moth, Heliolonche celeris.  It’s a beautiful small Noctuidae with pinkish forewings and stunning orange-red hindwings.  It isn’t very often encountered and only found along the northern California mountain ranges feeding on Malacothrix floccifera – a CA endemic flower.  Every trip I have…