National Moth Week 2024 Recap from Kansas City

We are in the Greater Kansas City Metro area, anyway, here in Leavenworth, Kansas. National Moth Week ran from July 20-28 this year, which was helpful because the weather was unstable and somewhat volatile, and we were traveling during the end of that time span. Our results were mixed, but they did include some new species for our property.

Chickweed Geometer Moth, Haematopis grataria, is a pretty dependable species for National Moth Week.

This part of the United States has received more rain this year than in the previous three that we have experienced. Oddly, this seems to have driven insect diversity and abundance down. Our plants are doing well. I had no idea that violets could grow that tall and that dense, for example. The goldenrod may be taller than I am by the time it blooms.

Green Cloverworm Moth, Hypena scabra, is common here most of the summer.

Black-bordered Lemon Moth, Marimatha nigrofimbria, has been a "regular" in our yard this year.

I walked our yard in the daytime on the afternoon of July 21, and flushed the above three moth species from our “lawn.”

Clemens' Grass Tubeworm Moth, Acrolophus popeanella.

That night I switched on the light for our covered side porch, which is only about five feet from the neighbor’s house, but only managed to attract a couple of grass tubeworm moths. Returning to the front entrance, I discovered what I believe to be an adult Variegated Cutworm lodged on the inside of the screen door.

Variegated Cutworm Moth, Peridroma saucia, I think.

Ironically, an unidentified tortricid moth appeared on the side porch screen door during the day on July 25.

Unidentified tortricid moth.

On July 26 I hiked over to Havens Park, one of the few forested places in town, in hopes of flushing some underwing moths, as I have had fair luck in the past. Lo and behold, I did get one, an Epione Underwing, Catocala epione, that stuck around just long enough for me to get a couple of images. Breaking through countless spider webs strung across the trail was worth it after all.

Epione Underwing, Catocala epione.

I set up our entolight blacklight twice, once in the back yard on the night of July 23, and again in the front yard on July 26. The difference in the species between the two locations is rather surprising. Frankly, given that the federal prison, lit up like Las Vegas every night, is less than two blocks away, I am mystified as to how we attract anything.

Maple Looper Moth, Parallelia bistriaris.

The back yard yielded a few moths, mostly small and common species, but also delivered a couple of lovely, larger moths. When blacklighting, it helps to remember to look on foliage, tree trunks, fence posts, and other surfaces just beyond the reach of the illumination of your lights. Many moth species are “too shy” to come directly to the sheet.

Banded tussock moth, Halysidota sp., found in the shadows just beyond the reach of the light.

The front yard, like the back yard, had few moths at the light until about eleven PM. Naturally, every time I decided I should turn out the light for the night, something new would show up. I think I eventually went to bed around one AM. Thankfully, the neighbors tolerate our “hobby.”

Spotted Peppergrass Moth, Eustixia pupula.

Among the novel finds in the front yard was one of the crocus geometer moths in the genus Xanthotype. They cannot be identified to species from photos, so we will settle for genus.

Crocus geometer moth, Xanthotype sp.

Another interesting moth was a Yellow-collared Slug Moth, Apoda y-inversum. Their helmet-shaped caterpillars apparently feed only on the leaves of hickory trees.

Yellow-collared Slug Moth, Apoda y-inversum.

All of my moth observations for the week can be found here on iNaturalist.

Packard's Wave, Cyclophora packardi, and a pygmy leafmining moth, Stigmella sp., immediately below it.

Next year I will try and schedule public events, as we did last year on Fort Leavenworth, for both a variety of habitat, and as a way to introduce others to the magic of moths. I hope all of you were able to enjoy this year’s edition of National Moth Week wherever it found you.

Zeller's Macalla, Macalla zelleri, a type of pyralid moth. Wish we had more, as their caterpillars feed on Poison Ivy.

It's National Moth Week Already?!

Yes, National Moth Week is once again upon us! This year it happens starting yesterday, July 23, and ends Sunday, July 31. NMW is an annual citizen science event that anyone can participate in. You might start by visiting the National Moth Week website for information about the history of the project, and how to contribute your observations.

Suzuki's Promalactis Moth, Promalactis suzukiella

Despite a breezy to gusty night last night, we hung a blacklight, with a white sheet backdrop, from our front porch in Leavenworth, Kansas, USA. Our neighborhood is more or less suburban, with modest yards around each home. It has been hot and humid, but with a prolonged dry spell, so I was not expecting much.

Yellow-striped Armyworm moth, Spodoptera ornithogalli, I think.

Still, we had many moths fly to our ultraviolet beacon. Many were small enough to be overlooked, or easily mistaken for leafhoppers, small caddisflies, or other insects. A few could be dismissed as bits of plant debris, so convincing is their camouflage, even on a white canvas.

Brown-shaded Gray, Iridoposis defectaria

Here is a small selection of some of the moths that appeared. I do not even know the identities of a few of them myself. Moths are that diverse, with little known about them unless they are of economic importance.

Skiff Moth, Prolimacodes badia

Walnut Caloptilia, Caloptilia blandella

Kermes Scale Moth, Euclemensia bassettella

Tubeworm moth, Acrolophus sp.

Small Baileya, Baileya australis

Stripe-backed Moth, Arogalea cristifasciella

Orange-headed Epicallima, Callima argenticinctella

The Wedgling, Galgula partita

Unidentified crambid moth

What is on your sheet, or at your porch light? Share them with the world. All it takes is a phone or camera, and a connection to the iNaturalist projects for global National Moth Week and United States National Moth Week. It is all free, and before you know it you will be scrolling through the observations of other moth aficionados from elsewhere. Happy Mothing!

National Moth Week 2021 Review

This year, National Moth Week ran from Saturday, July 17 to Sunday, July 25. It was our first moth week spent in eastern Kansas, at our own home, and my in-laws’ home, in Leavenworth.

Tiger moth, Apantesis sp.

A couple of things conspired against us, unfortunately. The moon was waxing, and full by July 23. Moths are most attracted to lights during a new moon (no moon). Secondly, the owner of the neighboring property had allowed his lot to become overgrown with many native and weedy plants. He chose the first day of moth week to mow and/or remove all of that vegetation, leaving only hedges of some exotic evergreen. Thanks! Both of these circumstances reduced our productivity. We blacklighted twice in the front yard, once in the back yard, and once two miles away at my spouse’s parents’ home.

A Brown-shaded Gray, Iridopsis defectaria

Despite the setbacks, we still managed a fair diversity of species. Most of them remain unidentified in the i-Naturalist website projects for National Moth Week because there are only so many moth specialists, and not every specimen can be determined to species, or even genus, from mere images alone. So far, I have approximately sixty-eight (68) taxa, including some moths I found in daylight hours.

Spotted Thyris Moth, Thyris maculata

The Orange Wing,Mellilla xanthometata, Lansing, Kansas

We started blacklighting in our yard on a fairly regular basis in late May. The results have been reasonably consistent in that the insects attracted are overwhelmingly caddisflies, rove beetles, and leafhoppers. Click beetles, ground beetles, water scavenger beetles, scarab beetles, ichneumon wasps, and longhorned beetles are also prominent.

Red-necked Peanutworm Moth,Stegasta bosqueella

When it comes to moths, there have been few large, spectacular moths. We do not run our lights all night long, though, and some of the giant moths apparently fly well after midnight. Most of our sessions are concluded by about 12:30 AM, if not earlier. We have had no giant silkmoths (family Saturniidae), and only one sphingid, a Walnut Sphinx (Amorpha juglandis), weeks before moth week.

This Catalpa Sphinx, Ceratomia catalpae, was....

....unfortunately murdered by a Wheel Bug (Arilus cristatus)

I have conditioned myself to closely examine the “little stuff,” five or six millimeters and under, to find the greatest diversity. Many tiny moths are also among the most beautiful. Sometimes I cannot tell if the insect is a microcaddisfly (family Hydroptilidae), a miniscule leafhopper (family Cicadellidae), or a tiny moth until I zoom in with my camera. Even then it can be a difficult exercise.

A concealer moth, Callima argenticinctella

In the process of editing photos, I frequently find additional species that I did not notice “live” at the sheet. Opening an image file can be like opening a Christmas present or a box of chocolates (“….you never know what you’re gonna get,” to quote Forrest Gump).

Pygmy leaf-mining moth, Stigmella sp, only 2 mm

We also made a feeble attempt at “sugaring,” mixing beer with overripe bananas and aging it a couple of days. That effort drew exactly zero moths. I think I saw a fly or two during the day. Maybe. We might try again at a later date, as underwing moths have only recently started flying.

Kermes Scale Moth, Euclemensia bassettella

The White-speck, Mythimna unipuncta

It will be interesting to track global observations for National Moth Week over the years, to see what changes and what remains constant. Is climate change pushing some species farther north as the planet warms? Are some species declining because they cannot adapt? Are some locations disappearing to the plow or urban sprawl? How do we mitigate these destructive impacts?

The Wretched Olethreutes,Olethreutes exoletum

It is also ironic, and perhaps hypocritical, that we preach an end to light pollution while deploying lights to attract moths. Entomologists and citizen scientists should probably settle on a message that reflects the need to gather data periodically, while dimming unnecessary lighting in general.

Yellow Nutsedge Moth, Diploschizia impigritella, 4 mm

If you have not yet participated in a National Moth Week, please consider doing so. That might mean attending a public event (or initiating one), or simply turning on your porch light and recording what comes to visit. Meanwhile, enjoy seeking moths, and their caterpillars, pupae and cocoons, all year long. Visit the National Moth Week website for more. Visit iNaturalist for all of my National Moth Week observations.

A male Chickweed Geometer, Haematopis grataria

A Couple of Weirdos

My last post here focused on the joys of National Moth Week, but what I neglected to mention was the added benefit of other insects being attracted to blacklights. Sometimes you get strange and significant surprises at your ultraviolet beacon. This is the story of two of those.

Clown beetle, Ulkeus intricatus, from Chico Basin Ranch

During our first moth week event at Chico Basin Ranch on July 21, we were all taking images of the moths that were drawn to our lights. There were plenty of other insects, too, like true bugs, flies, even a few wasps, plus lacewings, antlions, and beetles. I tried to document most everything, but it was not until I began editing my pictures that I noticed something spectacularly wierd. In one corner of an image of a moth was a beetle I recognized instantly as a "clown beetle" in the family Histeridae, but it had strange flanges on its legs and was a lot more bristly and "groovy" than the usual hister beetle.

It was reddish in color, too, while nearly all other clown beetles are jet black. I was aware that some clown beetles are found only in association with ants, and so I began looking at various species in the subfamily Hetaeriinae. Sure enough, up popped Ulkeus intricatus as the most likely suspect.

Legionary ants, Neivamyrmex sp., hosts of the clown beetle

So, now I begin researching this species, or at least the genus, to find out what its life history is like. It turns out that it is found only in the company of legionary ants in the genus Neivamyrmex, which makes things stranger still. Legionary ants are in a group of ants that includes army ants. They are nomadic, and mostly nocturnal, raiding the nests of other ants to prey on the larvae and pupae. This explains why the beetle was flying just after sunset: It was looking for a party of legionary ants and got distracted by our UV lights.

Exactly what the beetle does with, or to, the ants is largely unknown. My references say that the beetles are "guests" of the ants, which could mean anything from mutualism to kleptoparasitism (mutually beneficial relationship versus stealing the ant's food), or something else entirely. Exactly how the beetle would complete its life cycle if its host has no nest raises questions, too, though Neivamyrmex colonies are known to be sedentary over the winter.

Male legionary ants like this one fly to lights at night, too

There are six recognized species in the genus Ulkeus in the U.S., collectively ranging from North Carolina and Tennessee to Florida and west to Texas and Arizona. Five of those species are yet to be named and described, so I may be jumping the gun to assign a species to this one, especially since I never saw the thing let alone collected it. For all I know it is a seventh species.

Braconid wasp, Chrysopophthorus americanus

My wife and I put out a blacklight near Lyons, Colorado on July 22, despite cool and damp conditions, and among the many insects that flew in was a small, ghostly-looking wasp. I recognized that it was probably a member of the family Braconidae, wasps parasitic on other insects, but was baffled after that. Thankfully, there is Bugguide.net, and I started browsing the images to see if anyone else had recorded this wasp and, if so, was it identified.

Lo and behold, there it was, identified as Chrysopophthorus americanus. That almost never happens, being able to get a species identification that way. What's more, I learned that this wasp is a parasite of adult green lacewings (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae). Talk about a specialized niche. Since lacewings are often attracted to lights, it stands to reason that their parasites would be, too. Apparently the female wasp inserts her egg into the abdomen of the lacewing. The larva that hatches then feeds as an internal parasite inside the lacewing, eventually exiting to pupate.

Those beautiful emerald eyes!

What a wacky couple of "bugs." That is what I love about entomology, and natural history in general: You never know where one observation is going to take you, how one species intertwines with others....It is supposed to be a mild night here on October 21 and I am half-tempted to put the sheet and the blacklight out.

Sources: Caterino, Michael S. and Alexey K. Tishechkin. 2009. "A New North American Genus of Hetaeraiinae (Coleoptera: Histeridae), with Descriptions of Six New Species from the U.S.A. and Mexico," Zootaxa, 2311: 1-18.
Maxwell, John R., et al. 2008. "Species Chrysopophthorus americanus," Bugguide.

Remembering National Moth Week 2018

A tiger moth, Apantesis sp., from Lyons, Colorado, July 22.

Today it is cold, foggy, and there is still some snow leftover from yesterday here in Colorado Springs. What better time to look back on warmer times and the insects that could be found back then? National Moth Week this year was July 21-29. Despite the fact there was a full moon during that period (the worst possible conditions for putting out a blacklight because the lunar light is literally superior competition that nocturnal insects navigate by), we had very interesting results along the Front Range.

A leaf blotch miner moth, Caloptilia sp., from Chico Basin Ranch on July 21.

As has been the case for at least three years now, the Mile High Bug Club sponsored and executed local events during National Moth Week. Weather conditions varied considerably, as that time of year represents our season of almost daily storms, but we persevered and accumulated good data sets from casual observations and imaging. We posted most of our images to iNaturalist, and anyone can search by location and date for the results.

This large Carolina Sphinx moth, Manduca quinquemaculatus, showed up at Chico Basin Ranch on July 21.

For the second year in a row we kicked off the week on Saturday, July 21, at Chico Basin Ranch, a sprawling 80,000+ acre parcel that straddles the El Paso and Pueblo County line. This year we were again on the El Paso County side, setting up our lights at the bird banding station composed of a building and a nearby barn.

Emerald geometer moth and friends, Chico Basin Ranch

Almost immediately we attracted moths, beetles, true bugs, flies, and other insects to our blacklights and mercury vapor light. Thanks to being located well away from water, we were not inundated with caddisflies, variegated mud-loving beetles, and other aquatic insects like we were last year; so, the night was much more comfortable and we did not inhale any insects accidentally, nor take that many home in our vehicles.

Rufous-banded Crambid moth, Mimoschinia rufofascialis, Chico Basin Ranch

Insect diversity in general was very good, in a year in which overall insect abundance has been exceptionally low. The diversity of habitats at the ranch, most natural and some man-made, has much to do with the biodiversity of insects, birds, and other wildlife found there.

An owlet moth, Grotella septempunctata, from Cheyenne Mountain State Park, July 24.

Our second of four events was on Tuesday, July 24, at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, just south of Colorado Springs off of Highway 115. The park always welcomes us and adds our events to their schedule for the campers in the park to enjoy. Indeed, we had a respectable, if brief, turnout from visitors. Many families had children that were either up past their bedtimes already (especially those from different time zones), or were easily bored, or both.

Ilia Underwing moth, Catocala ilia, from Bear Creek Nature Center, July 27.

Our third event was Friday, July 27, at Bear Creek Nature Center in Bear Creek Regional Park, and it included a presentation on moths by yours truly. We had a very good public turnout, but the weather was absolutely miserable. At least the rain stopped by the end of the talk so that we could deploy our lights on the deck out back. Thankfully, a large underwing moth made an appearance, and even stayed long enough for everyone to get a look. Most of the other moths were small and difficult to see on the stucco-textured exterior of the building.

Artichoke Plume Moth, Platyptilia carduidactylus, at Bear Creek Nature Center, July 27.

We were back at Cheyenne Mountain State Park for our concluding event on July 28. Once again we had questionable weather, and zero attendance from the public. Still, if you light it up, they (moths) will come, and that night was no exception.

Jaguar Flower Moth, Schinia jaguarina, at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, July 28.

My wife and I also took a weekend trip to Lyons, Colorado, north of Boulder (northwest of Longmont), July 22-24. We stayed at Stone Mountain Lodge and Cabins, and did our blacklighting there. The wooded area, with cliffs rising above the lodge, along with landscape trees, shrubs, and plants, supported quite a diversity of moths and other insects, even given the unseasonably cool, damp weather.

A twirler moth, Aristotelia sp., from Lyons, Colorado on July 22.

Next year, Mile High Bug Club may opt to do fewer events during the designated National Moth Week to avoid stormy weather. Here along the Front Range we seem to have two peaks in moth diversity and abundance: One in mid- to late June, the other in about mid-September. Obviously, one goal of the national event is to remain consistent in the timing and location of observations to note trends in abundance and diversity over time. That may not always be a true reflection everywhere, though. The chief goal of our bug club events is to simply recruit new members of the public to an appreciation of the butterflies of the night.

Owlet moth, Andropolia theodori, from Lyons, Colorado, August 23.