Urania fulgens @ NABA Butterfly Park, RGV - Nov. 7

Mike Quinn ento at satx.rr.com
Fri Nov 7 23:24:12 EST 2003


The Rio Grande Valley keeps getting hotter and hotter...

Dave Hanson just photographed this incredibly beautiful insect in Southmost
Texas...

"Migratory Neotropical Moth" (Urania fulgens)
http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabast/Urania.html

It's made it as far north as Dallas, TX in the past! Mike Quinn, NB, TX
_______________________________________________________________

Here's a recent article from Costa Rica's leading English newspaper.

The Tico Times
Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, September 23, 2003

Massive Moth Migration in Motion
By Jamie McEvoy
Tico Times Staff

To see one of the world's most amazing insect migrations, you don't have to
hike miles into a national park or scramble atop a canopy skywalk. Simply
stand outside anywhere in the Central Valley for 10 minutes, and you are
likely to see hundreds of ducktail moths flying overhead.

A migration of this magnitude only happens once every six years, according
to Costa Rican buttery fly expert Jorge Corrales. The migration began in
early August and is expected to continue through the end of September. The
best time to see the migration is in the morning between 7-8 a.m., he said.

Unfortunately, the best place to see a ducktail moth up close and personal
is along the side of a road, Corrales said.

"The greatest danger for the migrating moths is not the distance of the
migration or the strong winds they encounter; the greatest danger is getting
hit by a car," Corrales said. This species of moth flies less than ten
meters above the ground, making them more vulnerable to head-on collisions
with windshields.

A moth migration may not sound as exotic or majestic as a butterfly
migration, but the ducktail moth is not your ordinary, gray closet moth. Its
Latin name, Urania fulgens, comes from its magnificent green color that
resembles the planet Uranus and its fulgens, which in Latin means
"brilliance" or "resplendence."

The ducktail moth, also commonly called the Green Page moth in English or La
Colipato in Spanish, is a medium-sized moth averaging eight centimeters in
width. The solid black background of its wings provides a splendid contrast
for the metallic green bands of color that run length-wise down its wings.
It has long hind wings that add to its grandeur.

The moths migrate when food sources for the larvae become inedible. The
Omphalea plant, which provides moths with substance in swampy mangroves,
responds to continued moth prey by increasing the level of toxins in its
leaves, forcing the moths to fly to the Caribbean coast to find plants that
are not as toxic to raise the next generation of larvae.

After the plants on the Pacific side are given several months to recover
from the feeding frenzy, toxicity levels decrease and the moths can return
to eat again on the Pacific coast.

One of the most interesting details of this migration is that it occurs
simultaneously throughout Latin America from Mexico to Ecuador, Corrales
said.

When the moths in Costa Rica begin to move from the Peninsula de Osa toward
the Caribbean coast of Limón, a similar local migration is occurring in
Mexico from the Pacific Ocean to the Golf of Mexico.

http://www.ticotimes.net/dailyarchive/2003_09/Week4/09_23_03.htm#story_three



 
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