FW: Warbler-killing Moth in Gulf of Mexico

[O.G. Marti, Jr.]

I can't venture a guess as to the identity of the moth, but the "hairy" body of
the moth suggests the possibility that urticarial hairs were responsible for 
the reaction of the bird. In French Guiana, there is a moth, Hylesia 
metabus, which possesses urticarial hairs. This particular species was 
causing problems among workers at the French rocket launching site at 
Kourou.  A grad student was hired to investigate the biology of the moth 
and he was working on that project when I was in French Guiana in 1987.
O.G. Marti, Jr.


> Would appreciate any ideas on what this Moth may have been. 
> Thanks, Mike Quinn
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: JohnCArvin at aol.com [mailto:JohnCArvin at aol.com]
> Sent: Monday, October 08, 2001 6:30 PM
> To: Mike.Quinn at tpwd.state.tx.us; TEXBIRDS at list.audubon.org
> 
> Mike,
> I pass along the following observation for what it is worth. In the
> spring of 1998 I spent the period early March through mid May on an
> offshore petroleum
> 
> platform 80 miles off the coast of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. Late
> in the season (I don't remember the exact date but it was in early
> May) we had an influx of tiny moths on my platform. Grounded migrants
> eagerly snapped these
> 
> up. On a platform census I observed an adult male Magnolia Warbler
> hopping along on the deck snapping up the small moths. This bird came
> upon a much larger moth (almost an inch long and relatively fat) that
> had a hairy orange
> 
> body. It pounced on this moth and immediately slung its head violently
> sideways to sling the moth out of its beak. It then began to
> frantically rub
> 
> its bill against the deck as if to wipe away whatever residue from the
> moth remained. Shortly it began to go into convulsions. As my census
> was time-limited I had to resume it. Upon its completion I returned
> and found the warbler dead and the moth still present. I collected
> both and sent them in to the project leadership, along with an
> anecdotal account of what had transpired. I have never heard the
> result of any toxicology report (if performed) so I don't know what
> species the moth was nor what toxicity it may have possessed. Still,
> it does indicate that some lepidopterids can be very toxic. John Arvin
> 
> 
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Orville G. Marti, Jr., Microbiologist
USDA, ARS, IBPMRL
PO Box 748
Tifton, GA.  31793

omarti at tifton.cpes.peachnet.edu
Phone: 912-387-2328  (office)
Phone: 912-387-2350  (lab)
FAX  : 912-387-2321 
WEB: http://sacs.cpes.peachnet.edu/ibpmrl

 
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