New at "The Wall" - Ultronia Underwing

As soon as I saw this larger moth I knew it was something special. At least to me. The light has been attracting a host of smaller moths for the last couple weeks that I struggle to figure out and struggle harder to remember one night to the next. It s like attending that class reunion and recognizing the person but not quite remembering the name... Anyway the heat of the last week has been a welcome change from the cool damp summer of 2009. Activity has been increasing and I've found great enjoyment watching the Gray Tree Frog metamorphs climbing the "moth wall" to watch the show...

August 18th 2009 reached 91 degrees and the heat continued into the evening hours. I was enjoying the evening show between innings of the Red Sox - Blue jays Game (we won 10 - 9)
11:30 PM I was taking one last look at the wall for the evening when this handsome moth rolled in. I knew it was new to me and for the yard list... I first found it facing downward on the lower wall. It took a while to get him to open his hindwings for a photo but he finally managed to cooperate after about a dozen blurred shots... I'm ID'ing this one as Ultronia Underwing Catacola ultronia

Tough getting up at 5:00 AM for work when all this action is happening outside your window... I'm becoming a big fan of afternoon naps...

dave@dhsmall.net
http://dhsmall.blogspot.com/

Night meetings aren't all Bad

My position at the Quabbin requires attendance at numerous night meetings and this Monday was no exception. Two hours in a crowed room, swatting mosquitoes, drawn by the exhaling crowd, and listening to the emotionally charged conversation. Lightning flashed in the night sky over Quabbin Reservoir as the crowd dissipated. Jonathan Yeo and I exited out the rear door locking up the office for the night when a large moth flashed from the breezeway.

Ilia Underwing Catacola ilia (8801) Underwings are a wonderful group of moths whose cryptic coloration keeps them well hidden from predators until the flash of the colorful under wing pattern startles the would be predator allowing a hasty escape. I first heard about them in the 1970's at Focus Outdoors at UMass where the renowned entomologist Ted Sargent talked of baiting moths with sugar and stale beer (Dad's beer was never safe again). Underwings were Ted's favorite; secretive and not usually attracted to lights making the development of special baits a kind of competition to find the secret ingredients that will fool these mysterious moths into view. Ted Sargent was also fascinated by the English names given species in this group of moths including the Sweetheart, Darling, Once-married, Mother, and the Penitent.

I don't see these beauties very often and this Ilia Underwing was the first I've been able to photograph in recent times. A great way to end an evening