Things have been quiet here for quite a while – mostly because I’ve been inundated with work (always a good thing). But I have also recently joined the party eight years late to the Twitter train. For daily images of cool insects please follow me over there @skepticalmoth. Of course some stories require . . . → Read More: Follow me on Twitter
 Comments are closed  Entomology, Science News  Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Entomology, Lepidoptera, Media, Microlepidoptera, Moths, Photography, Skepticism, Twitter This beautiful animal is a moth I reared from Quercus palmeri down in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona. It’s in the family Gracillariidae and most likely in the genus Acrocercops – according to Dave Wagner it may represent a new species, but that’s not an uncommon thing with small moths. It was fairly abundant, so . . . → Read More: Monday Moth Share this! 2 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology Arizona, Collecting, Colorado, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Entomology, Lepidoptera, Monday Moth, Moths, New Species, Photography, Rearing I’m excited to be participating this year as an instructor for the Lepidoptera Course at the Southwestern Research Station near Portal, Arizona. I’ll be one of eight other instructors who will provide a hands on and intense 9-day long course on the collection, preservation and identification of Lepidoptera. I really can’t imagine a better way . . . → Read More: LepCourse 2013 – learn about moths and butterflies! Share this! 2 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology, Science News American Museum of Natural History, Arizona, Collecting, Entomology, LepCourse, Lepidoptera, Moths, Portal, Southwest Research Station The time is fast approaching for this years National Moth Week, July 20-28 2013! The first ever Moth Week last year was a huge success with over 300 events from 49 US States and 30 countries! Help make this year even bigger – if you’re interested in moths at all you should find a local . . . → Read More: National Moth Week 2013! Share this! One comment - (Comments are closed) Entomology, Science News Citizen Science, Colorado, Denver, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Entomology, Lepidoptera, Moths, National Moth Week For this Monday’s Moth I thought I’d post a brief tutorial on how to accurately determine the sex of moths. While there are lots of examples of sexually dimorphic species (where males and females are obviously different), the vast majority of moths are not. Saturniidae make our lives easy by having strikingly different antennae between . . . → Read More: How to Sex a Moth Share this! One comment - (Comments are closed) Entomology Entomology, Female, Genitalia, Lepidoptera, Male, Monday Moth, Moths, Sex, Sexing, Sexually Dimorphic, Techniques How about another unidentified Gelechiidae from the same location as the previous specimen (nr. Prescott Arizona). I’m taking a stab at this moth being in the genus Chionodes – and it is superficially similar to the species C. continuella. Thankfully there is a monograph of this group (Moths of America North of Mexico, fascicle 7.6) . . . → Read More: Monday Moth Share this! 2 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology Arizona, Entomology, Gelechiidae, Genitalia, Lepidoptera, Monday Moth, Moths, Unidentified
This moth is a good example of what a lot of my moths are at the moment – unidentified! This is certainly a Gelechiidae, you can see the large upturned palps on the front of the head, and a finger-shaped projection on the tips of the hindwings. Just about one of the easiest . . . → Read More: Monday Moth Share this! 5 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology Arizona, Entomology, Gelechiidae, Lepidoptera, Microlepidoptera, Monday Moth, Moths, Unidentified A few months ago many of you probably stumbled across this meme – the famous Poodle Moth! And indeed for the most part the reporting was half decent. Yes, it’s real. Yes, it’s a moth. Yes, it’s probably a species in the Lasiocampidae (possibly the genus Artace) as correctly pointed out by Dr. John Rawlins. . . . → Read More: The Poodle Moth and the Problem of Cryptozoology Share this! 2 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology, Skepticism Bad Science, Cryptozoology, Entomology, Lepidoptera, Moths, New Species, Pseudoscience, Skepticism Welcome to the new home of the Skeptical Moth! I know updating blogrolls isn’t all that fun, but thank you for sticking with me. And since it’s Monday – here is an Automeris io (Saturniidae) from southern Illinois, May 2012.
Cheers and Happy New Year! . . . → Read More: Welcome To The New Location! Share this! 7 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology, Miscellaneous "Trail of Tears State Forest", Announcement, Entomology, Illinois, Lepidoptera, Moths, Photography, Saturniidae Today’s moth is a stunning micro and another creature from Barb Bartell’s back yard in the Rockies. To the best of my knowledge it’s a species of Mompha (Coleophoridae), probably claudiella,but I don’t have a positive ID on this bug yet. Once I start digging through the micros from this site there are sure to . . . → Read More: Monday Moth Share this! 2 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Entomology, Lepidoptera, Microlepidoptera, Monday Moth, Moths |
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