A few months ago I was out collecting in western Arizona and failed to follow through with any images or updates on that trip. Well, it was a success and well worth the miles to get there! I was searching for a Crambid moth in the mountains of the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge (special thanks…
Welcome to The Moth and Me #12, and my first blog carnival. Despite blogging for a few months I have yet to take a look back and reflect on exactly how I became enamored with lepidoptera in the first place. Remembering a time or location where this happened is impossible, and like many of my…
This moth is just about as rare as its paranormal namesake (except that it’s real) – it’s a Gazoryctra sp. in the family Hepialidae. They represent a basal lineage of the Lepidoptera and are commonly known as ghost moths or swift moths. Ghost – because males of some species are known to fly in true…
Just a few images of common California leps, taken along the coast range near Santa Cruz a few weeks ago. Starting to work my way through some photo backlog… Euphydryas chalcedona Plebejus acmon Plebejus acmon Ethmia arctostaphylella on Eriodictyon sp. One interesting note on Ethmia arctostaphylella – the name is a misnomer, it does not…
For the rarely reoccurring quiz series, here is a new image. Who is this moth?
With Korea teetering on the edge of a hot war, an ecological disaster of unprecedented proportion and civil unrest in Jamaica (someone harshed their mellow) – just to name a few of todays headlines from other sources – CNN takes the time to fluff up its front page. I usually get a little excited when…
Has just been posted over at Beetles in the Bush. Go over and explore the latest moth carnival, a gathering of blogs that have featured moths in one way or another over the last month or so.
For those who are not aware, a new book hit the market at the end of last year. “The Moths of Western North America“, Powell and Opler. At only $95 it’s worth every cent (or $75 for the e-book, but I hate e-books). It’s a remarkable tome and the first of its kind for the…
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…
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…