US Bias and winter moths

Nick Greatorex-Davies NGD at wpo.nerc.ac.uk
Wed Dec 2 05:54:27 EST 1998


Dear John

I for one, though not based in the US (never even been there (yet)), find "trivia" from other parts of the world of interest, sometimes considerable interest and sometimes relevant. The species list at the end of your posting has some meaning to me - for example Eupsilia, Lithophane and Acleris are all genera that are represented in the UK, and all have species that hiberate over the winter months and fly on mild nights, we have autumnal Cuculliinae we call "Sallows" and so on. It is certainly of interest to me that you have similar species where you live and as I read such postings it improves my knowledge of leps in other parts of the world. I am fasinated by leps (and other wildlife) wherever they come from - I just need at least a thousand life-times!

We have had the worst moth year for many years, probably due in no small part to the exceptionally wet April and very wet June we had. We also had generally very poor summer weather. Butterfly numbers were generally down, but according to several moth-trappers moth numbers were down by 50% of a normal year, with many species hardly showing.

Here at the moment the only species in Monks Wood Rothamsted insect trap and my garden MV are:

December moth (Poecilocampa populi (Lasiocampidae))
Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii (Nostuidae: Cucullinae)
Dark Chestnut (Conistra ligula (ditto))
Sprawler (Brachionycha sphinx (ditto))
Satellite (Eupsilia transversa (ditto)
Mottled Umber (Erannis defoliaria (Geometridae: Ennominae)
Winter Moth (Operophtera brummata (Geometridae: Larentiiane)
Northern Winter Moth (Operophtera fagata (ditto)
Acleris notana (Tortricidae)
Acleris cristana (ditto)

About par for the course, except numbers are rather lower than usual (despite some mild nights recently) and I have not seen a single Scarce Umber (Agriopis aurantiaria) so far this year - they are usually common here in Monks Wood at this time of year.

Regards

Nick Greatorex-Davies
ITE Monks Wood UK

>>> John Grehan <jrg13 at psu.edu> 01/12/98 22:10:03 >>>
I've followed as best I can the debate over the formation of the UK group.
While I am neutral regarding its formation, there have been some expressions
of concern that UK trivia will not be of interest to US or other
recipients. Does
this mean that UK subscribers are not interested in trivia (i.e. local news)
outside the UK?

I for one am interested so see what pops up about Lepidoptera anywhere in
the world. Even the most obscure observation may prove to be interesting
or relevant.

Also there was mention of a US bias. That bias seems to simply reflect the
origins of the majority of contributors. In the absence of any declaration that
there is no interest in leps outside the US there is no necessary bias in
interest. I contribute information on US leps simply because that is
where I happen to be based geographically.

Now for my local trivia. We are having some exceptionally warm weather
for early winter. Daytime temperatures were in the low 60's F (16 C)
and sky overcast. The evening was correspondingly warm with no wind.
There were lots of moths at the bait, but species diversity was low.

Collected

Noctuidae: Hypeninae
Plathypena scabra (green cloverworm, noctuelle des legumineuses)

Noctuidae: Cuculliinae

Eupsilia morrisoni (Morrison's sallow)
Eupsilia tristigmata (three-spotted sallow, chenille veloutee)

Pyreferra citrombra
Pyreferra hesperidago (mustard sallow)

Lithophane grotei (green fruitworm, noctuelle cendree)

Tortricidae: Tortricinae

Acleris subnivana

Acleris spp. (two species unidentified at present)

John Grehan

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           


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