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 . . . → Read More: Biology of a Ghost
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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
. . . → Read More: May Butterflies (and a moth) Share this!
A once in a lifetime occurrence, a bilateral gynandromorph. In short, a glitch during cell differentiation creates asymmetrical chromosome patterns, which leads to asymmetrical sex expression in the adult insect. If you haven’t clicked the link above, do so, it’s an excellent description with some awesome photos. Back to the butterfly. I . . . → Read More: An Awesome Little Butterfly Share this!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 . . . → Read More: To all you Moth-ers Share this!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 . . . → Read More: Moth Perfume Share this! 5 comments - (Comments are closed)  Entomology  Butterflies, Defensive Behavior, Entomology, Hazards of Collecting, Lepidoptera, Moths 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 . . . → Read More: The Art of a Goose Chase Share this! 10 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology Entomology, Flowers, Hazards of Collecting, Lepidoptera, Moths, Non-Insects Recently came across some ridiculously horrible taxonomy from China (.pdf). If you scroll down a bit you can see the english translation. At first glance this looks like a standard taxonomy paper with bare-bones species descriptions. You might even think to yourself, “huh, wonder why they are describing species from only one specimen”. Not the . . . → Read More: Taxonomy Fail Share this! 4 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology Butterflies, Crank, Entomology, Lepidoptera, New Species I’ve just illustrated my method for spreading microlepidoptera, go explore the techniques page. Who is courageous enough to attempt it?
Share this! 4 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology Collecting, Entomology, Lepidoptera, Moths, Techniques I’ve been busy spreading microleps over the last few days, and here is a small selection from my summer collecting trips. Still have at least another 200 to go before catching up on my backlog. I am working on illustrating just how to spread these moths… so stay tuned. 2009 was a great season. I . . . → Read More: How I keep myself busy Share this!So what is wrong with this illustration below? Sounds like a great show at the Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati. This news story made me look just a little closer… Share this! |
Skepticism |
