Comments on: Medium sized light-brown moth http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/2009/05/02/medium-sized-light-brown-moth/ A Field Guide to the North Side of Old Mill Hill, Atlantic Mine, MI Thu, 17 May 2012 13:43:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Tim Eisele http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/2009/05/02/medium-sized-light-brown-moth/comment-page-1/#comment-998 Tim Eisele Tue, 26 May 2009 20:40:14 +0000 http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/?p=818#comment-998 OK, so I have a possible ID, although it is far from a sure thing: it could be a <a href="http://bugguide.net/node/view/39092" rel="nofollow">very faded Linden Looper, <u>Erannis tiliaria</u></a>. What pattern it has (the horizontal stripes, the spots in the middle of the wings, and the unpatterned hindwings) are about right, assuming that it faded a lot while beating around the lights and knocking scales off of the wings. And both the body shape and resting pose are very, very close. And, of course, I know for sure that it is a species that lives here, because <a href="http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/2008/01/12/linden-looper-caterpillar-inchworm/" rel="nofollow">I already have pictures of the Linden Looper caterpillar, which is much more distinctive than the adult</a>. OK, so I have a possible ID, although it is far from a sure thing: it could be a very faded Linden Looper, Erannis tiliaria. What pattern it has (the horizontal stripes, the spots in the middle of the wings, and the unpatterned hindwings) are about right, assuming that it faded a lot while beating around the lights and knocking scales off of the wings. And both the body shape and resting pose are very, very close.

And, of course, I know for sure that it is a species that lives here, because I already have pictures of the Linden Looper caterpillar, which is much more distinctive than the adult.

]]> By: K T Cat http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/2009/05/02/medium-sized-light-brown-moth/comment-page-1/#comment-919 K T Cat Tue, 05 May 2009 12:54:51 +0000 http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/?p=818#comment-919 How can you say it's boring? For all you know, it may be one of the most well-read and erudite moths around. Sheesh! It's like you're judging the Miss America pageant or something. Or maybe not. :-) How can you say it’s boring? For all you know, it may be one of the most well-read and erudite moths around. Sheesh! It’s like you’re judging the Miss America pageant or something.

Or maybe not.

:-)

]]> By: Carl Strang http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/2009/05/02/medium-sized-light-brown-moth/comment-page-1/#comment-917 Carl Strang Mon, 04 May 2009 16:42:25 +0000 http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/?p=818#comment-917 Yeah, this is a tough one. There are possibilities both in the Geometridae, as you suggest, and in the Noctuidae. When moths fade with loss of scales it gets really tough, though the specialists still often can succeed. What's distinctive about this one, I think, is the limited number of lines: only the one strong one on the fore wing, none evident on the hind wing. One geometrid possibility is Lambdina pellucidaria, the yellow-headed looper moth. The attraction here is the yellow head and thorax, but the problem is that the species is supposed to have gray rather than tan wings, and something of a line on the hind wing (which conceivably is present in this individual in incomplete form, represented by the dark dot). The noctuid possibilities are close relatives of one another, a few species of Zanclognatha plus the morbid owlet Chytolita morbidalis. These are of interest because their larvae all eat dead leaves. The two with the weakest wing lines are the grayish zanclognatha, Z. pedipilalis, and Chytolita. But again the ground color should be more gray than tan. Moths are an acquired taste, but there often are intricate patterns on those brown and gray wings. Ecologically they are of extreme importance in the caterpillar stage, both as plant consumers and as food for birds. I had the good fortune to spend some time learning from George Godfrey, a former lepidopterist with the Illinois Natural History Survey who sadly lost his position in a downsizing and moved on to a university in Oklahoma. George demonstrated that moths are accessible, and from him I got a sense of the amount of variability to expect within a species. Charles Covell's Field Guide to the Moths does a good job of helping us amateurs with most of the species we will encounter. Originally part of the Peterson Field Guides, it didn't sell well enough to satisfy Houghton Mifflin, and went out of publication for several years. Happily it has been picked up by the Virginia Museum of Natural History and is back in print. Yeah, this is a tough one. There are possibilities both in the Geometridae, as you suggest, and in the Noctuidae. When moths fade with loss of scales it gets really tough, though the specialists still often can succeed. What’s distinctive about this one, I think, is the limited number of lines: only the one strong one on the fore wing, none evident on the hind wing. One geometrid possibility is Lambdina pellucidaria, the yellow-headed looper moth. The attraction here is the yellow head and thorax, but the problem is that the species is supposed to have gray rather than tan wings, and something of a line on the hind wing (which conceivably is present in this individual in incomplete form, represented by the dark dot). The noctuid possibilities are close relatives of one another, a few species of Zanclognatha plus the morbid owlet Chytolita morbidalis. These are of interest because their larvae all eat dead leaves. The two with the weakest wing lines are the grayish zanclognatha, Z. pedipilalis, and Chytolita. But again the ground color should be more gray than tan.

Moths are an acquired taste, but there often are intricate patterns on those brown and gray wings. Ecologically they are of extreme importance in the caterpillar stage, both as plant consumers and as food for birds. I had the good fortune to spend some time learning from George Godfrey, a former lepidopterist with the Illinois Natural History Survey who sadly lost his position in a downsizing and moved on to a university in Oklahoma. George demonstrated that moths are accessible, and from him I got a sense of the amount of variability to expect within a species. Charles Covell’s Field Guide to the Moths does a good job of helping us amateurs with most of the species we will encounter. Originally part of the Peterson Field Guides, it didn’t sell well enough to satisfy Houghton Mifflin, and went out of publication for several years. Happily it has been picked up by the Virginia Museum of Natural History and is back in print.

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