The Wall - Moth season winds down

For the last 2 summers I have been operating my Mercury Vapor light on most any warm night where I have the chance to check it through the evening. Moths being night beasts they often are showing up long after I should be in bed. But the lure of discovering something new outweighs the logical impulse for a full nights sleep.

The season for moths evolves like it does for many taxa. I admit to only focusing on the larger or more colorful well marked species. Spring and early Summer are filled with nights of Giant Silk Moths soon followed by Sphinx moths named for thier various food plants: Laurel, Virginia Creeper, and Northern Pine Sphinx.

The group that has really tickled my fancy this year are the Underwing Moths of the genus Catocala These guys somehow eluded my discovery last year and have been high on my "want to see list" all year. First of all they don't seem to fly until August which this year coincided with the first dry nights of the summer. Second they have a tendancy to not show up until after the Red Sox have completed a 12 inning night game...

8801 Catocala ilia - Ilia Underwing

But they are worth the wait with such common names as: Inconsolable, Dejected, Widow, Sad, Graceful, Wayward, Girlfriend, and Once Married they certainly have caught the imagination of early entomologists. We are fortunate to have the leading expert on this genus living right here in Massachusetts. The definitive work on the group is:  Legion of Night: The Underwing Moths by Theodore D. Sargent (Dec 1976). I first saw Ted in 1970 or so at UMass where Mass Audubon held the conference "Focus Outdoors" a weekend of  talks on all sorts of natural history subjects. At the time I was still pretty much following birds but was drawn to the engaging talk where I learned of some different uses for Dad's stale beer. Underwings can be attracted not only by lights but by an aromatic concoction of stale beer (actually yeasty micro brews are best) some brown sugar, Bananas, and other over ripe fruit, left to get pretty well fermented then smeared on tree trunks to await the evening moths...

Well so far my baiting for Moths has been less than productive but I have seen a half dozen species of Catacola so far. My latest is: 8805 -- Once-married Underwing Moth -- Catocala unijuga

It may be near the end of the moth season for us here in Athol but I'll still check on those warm Indian summer nights just to see what might show up.

For another look at Catacola's in Massachusetts see bill Oehlke's web site. Bill has been invaluable in helping me identify not only Catacolas but many of the Sphinx moths. Always if trying to identify moths from your pictures try the Moth Photographers Group and of course BugGuide for more help. Now time to go check the "Wall" one last time before hitting the rack... I may be back

dave@dhsmall.net

http://dhsmall.blogspot.com/

Addendum

The Betrothed - Catocala innubens

No sooner had I hit the "Post" button and headed out for one last look at "The Wall" when I spotted this interesting speciman. The Betrothed! I will hate to see the hard frosts ahead as they will end my fascination with "The Wall" for this year...