This Monday moth is a stunning female of the Neotropical Megalopygidae – Trosia nigrorufa. Ed Ross and Ev Schlinger collected this specimen in Peru in 1955, and I’ve heard many stories about these epic expeditions. I can’t really imagine travelling via cargo ship, being gone for six or more months at a time and relying…
Oops, I skipped last monday’s moth, so here are two! These are some stunners from the CAS Philippines expedition and I think I have figured out their names. If you know better, please correct me.
This Monday’s moth is a duo of Schinia villosa (Noctuidae) resting on what I am assuming is their host plant (Erigeron sp.). I snapped this shot around 9,000 feet up on the Kaibab plateau in Northern Arizona last month. A fire must have burned the area a few years ago because the wildflowers were thick amongst…
A month ago or so the California Academy of Sciences launched a full fledged expedition to the Philippines. While the majority of the cash was spent on a clipper ship and dive teams, there was a terrestrial component. While I didn’t get to go (and sat at home and pouted), I did talk some of…
Last week Jim Hayden guessed the moth I posted was an Australian Oecophoridae. It was a good guess because there are so many large and stunning moths in this family from Australia. One of the best has to be this one, Wingia lambertella (Oecophoridae), captured on Black Mountain in Canberra October 23, 1955 (CAS collections). The…
This GOP is less of a challenge and more of a simple roundup of miserable stock photography. Alex Wild and others have long ago pointed out the massive failings of many stock photo sites – but here is a brief and painful lep roundup using Google. Step 1: Image search “moth on flower”. Step 2:…
Here is another wonderful video from Warren! I am guessing this is a Choreutidae because of the way the wings are held while dancing – although it’s too fast to really get a clear look. Given that it’s from a fauna I’m totally unfamiliar with I could easily be wrong – so please correct me…
Fresh off the presses, the Miami Blue Butterfly (MBB) is now listed as federally endangered by act of an emergency provision. Huzzah! (right?) My first thought was “wait, wasn’t this already endangered?”. Yes, turns out the MBB has been state-endangered since 2002 after a previous emergency petition filed by the North American Butterfly Association (NABA). This…
This week’s moth is a video of a dancing micro from the Philippines (taken by Warren Laurde). As you might suspect this is a mating display that ends in a pretty spectacular headstand. There are lots of other microleps that have dancing or display behavior, but there are almost no other videos online and…
This Monday’s moth is a spectacular species from the mountains of Arizona – Chiricahua multidentata, a Geometrid. The only known location for this species is at the very top of the Chiricahua mountains above 9,000 feet (which was just bruned to a crisp). Hopefully the fire was not entirely devastating and the population will rebound in the…