Shapes and sizes

I have really been spending a lot of time going after moths these last few weeks. So many photos to process, so many identifications to make. While the main efforts have been at Rondeau Provincial Park, there have been a few other places that offer wonderful diversity of moths as well, but some of those stories will have to wait for another post. And some of the other places have a lot fewer mosquitoes to contend with!

The blog post previous to the last one, dealt primarily with colours and patterns. This one will deal more with sizes and shapes, although I think you will realize that even looking at these, the colours and patterns are sometimes pretty incredible.

Some have very colourful patterns as caterpillars. For those who spend any time looking at milkweeds, this Milkweed Tussock Caterpillar, facing off with a very young Monarch caterpillar, is pretty distinctive and reasonably colourful.

Not so as an adult. It is about as drab as you might expect for a moth, although the shape is fairly typical of what one might expect.

Some larger than average moths are as follows:

Close-banded Yellowhorn

Crocus Geometer

This Dark-spotted Palthis has a very distinctive, pointed look to it.

Dark-spotted Palthis

This next one is a Four-spotted Fungus Moth. It has a fairly typical shape, but notice the slightly iridescent bluish colour mixed in.

Lost Owlet

This next one is a Spotted Apatelodes, looking a bit like a Sphinx Moth.

But here is a real Sphinx Moth, the Walnut Sphinx. Its larvae feed on a wide variety of other trees as well.

I have only ever seen one of this next one, The Beggar. (Who comes up with these names???)

But so many of the moths are smaller. Much, much smaller. Many are no more than one centimetre in body length, and there are quite a few that are only 5-7  millimetres. Of course the smaller they are, the more challenging they are to photograph, but getting acceptable photos under difficult circumstances is part of the fun!

Black-spotted Leafroller

This next one, the Brown Bark Carpet Moth has a fairly short body of about one cm, but the wing-span is typically 25 mm or more.

There are several in the Datana genus that look quite similar. This one is either a Contracted or a Walnut Datana, and obviously small as it rests on the tip of my finger.

The Filbertworm Moth is about 10 mm.

The Locust Twig Borer is about 12mm

This Brown-banded Lipocosma has a peculiar shape. This is the top view.....

....and this is the side view.

There are quite a few different kind of Grass-veneers. These are sometimes the moths that flutter up briefly while you are walking through grass, and then disappear under a blade of grass.

Gold-stripe Grass-veneer

The Labyrinthe Moth is aptly named.

Another moth with up-swept wings is this Light Marathyssa.

Schlaeger's Fruitworm Moth

One of the more distinctive moths is the Maple Callous Borer. Its heavily veined transparent wings and red, feathery tail tip are distinctive.

There are a whole bunch of Plume Moths, all of which look a bit like a plane. This one is a Plain Plume Moth.

There are a few with arched or hooked wing tips. This one is called the Rose Hooktip.

This Yellow-shouldered Leafroller is about 12 mm long.

This next group shows some of the micro moths, which are truly tiny. The Four-spotted Yellowneck has a much longer name than its body size. It is about 7 mm long.

Orange Virbia

The Orange-headed Epicallima is about 6 mm.

Some moths, like this 6mm long Packard's Caloptila, sit propped up on elongated front legs.

If Rondeau was thoroughly surveyed, there should easily be more than 2000 species. Our efforts so far have resulted in about 500 species photographed, so clearly we have a long way to go. We had hoped to get out the Marsh Trail a few times, as the moth diversity there would likely add quite a few to the list. However with the north end of the trail being washed away, it is unlikely we will get out to survey that habitat complex any time soon without a lot of extra effort.

The most recent field guide only shows about 1500 of the ~5000 species of moth that are known from the northeastern US and southeastern Canada, so although it is a huge help, is is far from complete, and other sources are necessary to use. Fortunately online databases such as BugGuide and iNaturalist will help fill in the gaps.

Stay tuned for more moths coverage. Given the extremely hot and humid conditions of late, at least spending time after dark photographing moths is a little more comfortable than doing much field work during most of the daylight hours!