Coronavirus, Entomology, and This Blog

May this latest post find you healthy, still sane, and abiding by the directives of your local, state, provincial, and national governments and health care professionals (not necessarily in that order). We are collectively stressed more than usual, and for some of you, normal stress was already almost intolerable. We were eager to greet spring by rushing outdoors, and are now told we should stay inside as much as possible. The coronavirus (covid-19, SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has impacted everyone, including entomologists, and sponsors of this blog. Never fear, we will persevere, and recover.

Ouch! Another reason to stay indoors!

The closure of all non-essential businesses and agency offices has had a profound impact on the field of entomology. Notably, nearly every university and museum entomology department is unoccupied or nearly so. There is little or no maintenance of our valuable insect and arachnid collections. Agricultural offices, pest control operators, and related agencies and enterprises are operating with skeleton crews, if not closed indefinitely. Little, if any, field work is being done. The advancement of our scientific knowledge in these disciplines is at a standstill, or proceeding at a snail’s pace compared to normal standards.

One of the more troubling scenarios is whether medical entomology will be a casualty, if only by attrition, or by the recruitment of medical entomologists into the current epidemiological crisis response. Already I am seeing posts on social media of ticks and mosquitoes that citizens are encountering as they go outside for exercise and fresh air. Should the bite of a fly or tick result in illness, who is going to treat those victims? Will those people be seen at all, and if so, how, in the interest of complying with social distancing, and the increasing pressure to devote all hospital and medical facilities to containing and treating covid-19 cases? If any of my readers know the answers, and I am all ears.

Meanwhile, many small businesses are suffering incalculable economic damage that will only get worse the longer we fail to comply with proven methods of “flattening the curve” of virus cases. We all personally know employees and proprietors who are facing agonizing layoffs, or the prospects of having to make those tough decisions. This includes the two major sponsors of this blog.

I made the decision earlier in the year to suspend payment for advertising here, from Tender Corporation (After Bite®), and BioQuip Products and BioQuip Bugs (see right sidebar for links). It had nothing to do with the impending pandemic at the time. I am in a fortunately solvent financial situation for the time being, and I also knew I would be posting here more infrequently. It is not fair to demand revenue for a product or service that is decreasing in frequency (but, hopefully, not quality).

Please consider purchasing goods from my sponsors if possible. Tender Corporation manufactures all manner of outdoor medical products that remain useful even during the pandemic, when we may be confined to our own property, but still confronted by biting insects and arachnids. BioQuip is the premiere outlet for high quality entomology equipment, from nets to pinning supplies, plus products related to botany and other scientific disciplines. They provide merchandise for every level, from hobbyist to professional. They offer one of the most complete listings of books and educational materials found anywhere. Can’t go collecting because you are restricted to your home? No problem. BioQuip Bugs sells many specimens from all over the globe, responsibly sourced.

Besides browsing the blog, including the clickable tabs at the top of the page about how to build an insect collection and how to take amazing images of insects with your phone, there are other ways to further your interest in entomology. Investigate online classes. Join social media groups centered around an interest in insects or arachnids. Look in on iNaturalist, Project Noah, and Bugguide. Go on an indoor bug hunt. Make drawings, paintings, or sculptures of your favorite insect. Read books and articles about bugs. Watch documentaries about insects, like Microcosmos. There are endless possibilities in the digital age, which may be the saving grace of the timing of this unfortunate and mournful epidemic. Please stay safe, healthy, and sane, and know that you have my empathy and appreciation.

National Moth Week, 2016: What's at Your Blacklight?

Today, Friday, July 22, kicks off the fourth annual National Moth Week, which runs through Sunday, July 31. I highly recommend participating, ideally in the formal sense of registering an "event" at their website. It can be public or private, as elaborate or as simple as you want to make it. Simply turning on your porch light this week and recording in images what comes flying in will add to our collective scientific knowledge while delighting you and your family.

A "prominent moth," Gluphisia sp.

Tonight I will be at the Fountain Creek Nature Center in Security/Widefield, Colorado, where the Mile High Bug Club and the nature center staff will be hosting an after dark celebration of moths. We are fortunate to have several members who have invested in UV tubes, mercury vapor lights, and other set-ups designed to draw nocturnal Lepidoptera and other insects. There should be at least two or three stations in different habitats.

Our simple light set-up

Meanwhile, my wife and I have a very low-tech apparatus consisting of a sheet, an 18-inch, 15 watt "party-style" blacklight, and a 4.5 watt, 120 volt 45 LED "work light." Most nights, weather permitting, we erect this in the backyard, all 12 x 10 square feet of it, fenced in as we are in a relatively urban Colorado Springs neighborhood. We should be attracting next to nothing except sideways glances from the neighbors. I have created a Flickr album, "Backyard Blacklighting, June, 2016," and will make subsequent albums for July, August, and September, too, documenting in images the diversity of insect life we see.

Ponderosa Pine Seedworm Moth

Blacklights produce light at the ultraviolet end of the spectrum, including wavelengths invisible to the human eye but easily detected by the insect eye. It is not recommended that one look directly at a blacklight, as UV rays are known to damage your eyes. Wearing white to a moth night event is also a bad idea as you will become a moving reflector and moths and other insects will alight upon you. You do not want a moth or beetle in your ear, so you will have to decide whether the risk is great enough to use earplugs.

American Bird's Wing Moth

Different moth aficionados will give you different advice, about everything from how to power your rig to what weather conditions are best. One standard is that the lunar cycle is important. The "new moon" (NO moon) is supposedly best, while the full moon is worst. Well, in June, one of our best nights was one day before a full moon. Go figure.

Sooty Chalcoela, Chalcoela iphitalis

Do what you are comfortable with, just look carefully before you give up, thinking that your lights did not attract anything worth your time. Many of our largest, most spectacular moth species are on the decline. Some are not drawn to lights anyway, or lurk on the fringes of the illuminated area. The greatest diversity, and often beauty, is in the "micros," those moths that are maybe ten millimeters or less in length. They can hide in folds in your sheet, or simply be so inconspicuous as to be overlooked.

Leafroller moth, family Tortricidae

We know very little about the overwhelming majority of moths, especially about where, geographically, they live. This is why taking pictures and sharing them is vital. You could easily document a "county record," verifying the first known occurrence of a species in your county. A "state record" is not out of the question, either, and that is a frequent outcome during moth week events.

Net-spinning Caddisfly, family Hydropsychidae

Your lights will draw other kinds of insects as well, some easily mistaken for moths. Chief among those are caddisflies, order Trichoptera. All are aquatic as larvae, but though you may be miles from water, you may still get the adult insects at your lights.

Brown lacewing

Brown lacewings, dustywings, and other members of the order Neuroptera can also look like moths at first glance. Their larvae eat aphids and other pests, so they are good neighbors, too.

Yucca moth, principal pollinator of yucca flowers

Remember not all moths are pests, by any stretch, and that they serve important purposes in pollination of flowers, and as food for birds, bats, reptiles, and other animals, including other insects.

Plume moth, family Pterophoridae

Have a very happy National Moth Week. You will not be disappointed if you choose to hold an event or join an existing, public one. There are many people willing to help you learn, in person, or online.

A "grass veneer" moth, family Crambidae