'Endangered' Luna Moths

James J. Kruse kruse at nature.berkeley.edu
Wed Sep 17 14:55:30 EDT 1997


Chuck Vaughn wrote:
> 300 miles must be an exaggeration because a 300 mile radius from Chicago
> extends into several states. Has anybody placed a captive female outside
> to see if any males arrive?

Luna moths are abundant in Newburg, Wisconsin, just north of Milwaukee.
I have also collected them 2 miles south of West Bend, Wisconsin.

> The strangest experience occurred last June when I had a female Cecropia
> confined to a cage outside. She attracted a male Ceanothus moth!

Actually, the species in the genus Hyalophora have very similar pheromone.
I have attracted H. columbia in the UP of Michigan using cecropia females,
and also H. euryalis (ceanothus moth) in California using cecropia
females. Hybrids are exquisite...

Cheers!
Jim Kruse
University of California at Berkeley
Dept. of Environ Sci, Policy and Mgmt.
Div. of Insect Biology
Sperling Lab
201 Wellman Hall
Berkeley, California, 94720-3113
(510) 642-5114/7410



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