Pronuba in Western Canada

Martin Honey M.Honey at nhm.ac.uk
Mon Jul 31 03:46:39 EDT 2000


>Hello all,
>
>I don't know if anyone else has had this problem, but where I live sometimes 
>my sheet will be covered in N. pronuba. That happened last year, but I"ve 
>been lucky so far this year. Some nights I swear there could have been 500
or 
>so of them all over the sheet, as well as flying in swarms around barn
lights 
>around the area. They also covered up my Buddlei bush (the flower parts 
>anyhow), making it hard to find Catocala hiding about. The hundreds that 
>decided to cover my sheet every night wasn't the entire problem: the bunch
of 
>them flying about smacking into my  head was annoying too. Perhaps they were 
>sent here to form some sort of militia to protect the other moths? Or did 
>they just take advantage of their welcome? I was just wondering if anyone 
>else has had a problem collecting because of these little critters.

Dear Randy (and others)

Anyone interested in this thread may like to hear of 'problems' with this
species  here in the UK.

In Moths and Butterflies of Britain and Ireland (vol. 9: 158), a comment is
made of this species that it "may fill a light-trap to the detriment of
other species". We, the Entomologist's Gazette (vol. 50: 33-38), recently
published a note concerning this habit. It was entitled "Possible migration
of Noctua pronuba (L.) at Lizard Point, Cornwall" and gave details of a
light-trap filled with an estimated 8-10,000 pronuba on the night of
20.vii.1996! Further specimens were found littering the shore-line on
nearby beaches. This type of occurence may be sporadic but they are
certainly spectacular.

Best wishes

Martin
***********************************************************
Martin R. Honey CBiol MIBiol, Lead Curator (Moths)
Department of Entomology, The Natural History Museum,
Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, Great Britain
EMAIL:     M.Honey at nhm.ac.uk
Museum web page <http://www.nhm.ac.uk>

TELEPHONE: 020 7942 5604     International: 44 20 7942 5604
FAX:       020 7942 5229     International: 44 20 7942 5229
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