Columbus Ohio Collection Report

[Dan Chaffee]

On 22 May 2000 21:51:31 -0700, jfhanlon at mediaone.net (James Hanlon)
wrote:

>Being from the West Coast, I have always longed to see the Luna moth in
>flight, so my goal on this trip was to bring one in.

Yeh, I know just where you're coming from. I grew up just south of
Sacramento and dreamed of seeing the big saturnids floating on
the air of a warm, humid night. Polyphemus and H. euryalis were
all I new in those days, and not many at that. Then I moved to
Kansas City 16 years ago. Lunas all over the place, except the 
city itself, cecropias, polyphemuses , imperials, Ios  are not hard to
find in my semi-rural location. But lunas are the commonest of all-
to be found on the vapor lights. One night I counted five at one
of my lights! It's even easy to find the larvae on the walnut trees
in my yard. I only wish promethea flew here, as it once did. 
In another month, the pandora sphinxes will be buzzing around 
my mimosa trees....

Anyway, having collected and raised species on the west coast, it
wasn't nearly as fun as what I get to see here; it's still exotic to
me. I've lived in four locations in the Plains/Midwest, and none have
I seen  the numbers of different species I see in the KC area.
The chiggers and ticks are another story....

Dan Chaffee