Hemileuca eglanterina
Laurel Godley
godley at hotmail.com
Wed Sep 8 11:55:35 EDT 1999
What an unmitigated treat I had this weekend! I saw my first ever hemileuca
eglanterina (common or western sheepmoth.) The poor thing was bouncing off
the road outside of Lassen National Park as I was homing in on a roadside
patch of ascelpias speciosa. From a distance, I naturally thought it was a
monarch that had been hit by a passing car. But as I approached and picked
it up I realised it was something else entirely despite the similar size and
orangish-pink coloring.
The puzzle was resolved later when I stopped by the park gift store to pick
up a copy of the recently published "Discovering the Butterflies of Lassen
Volcanic Park." The author included a single plate of day-flying moths and
there it was! So now I have a name. Fortunately, as I know little or
nothing of moths and would have been hard pressed to name it.
So I'm wondering if anyone can provide me with more detailed life history
beyond that which is found on the USGS webpage. This lil guy is really
interesting and I'd like to know more about him. Jim K., you might actually
get me interested in moths after all!
Incidentally, there were no monarchs to be found at aforementioned patch.
Despite this being the largest patch of wild milkweed I've seen to date,
there were no caterpillars not even a chew mark to imply there had ever been
one. At another smaller patch, I found only one post emerged pupa case but
again no larva. Bad year I guess, the butterflying was generally dismal at
my local. The only species present was the california sister at the water
fountain in Burney Falls State Park that proceeded to land repeatedly on a
lady and her toddlers. The little girls got quite a kick out of it though.
Laurel
back home in Silicon Valley
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
More information about the Leps-l
mailing list