[moth-rah] why I prefer moths from Steve Johnson

[Dr. James Adams]

Steve Johnson wrote:

>I collected in Ocean county NJ on Sat. Nov. 1.  Very few butterflies
>seen (mostly sulphurs), but oh, the moths.
>Here's the list.
>
>Hemileuca maia
>Agrotis ipsilon
>Anicla infecta
>Xestia elimata
>Psectraglaea carnosa
>Pseudaletia unipuncta
>Epiglaea apiata
>Lithophane patefacta
>Chaetaglaea sericea
>Chaetaglaea tremula
>Xylotype capax
>Eupsilia morrisoni
>Eupsilia tristigmata
>Eupsilia vinulenta
>Eupsilia sidus . . . (48 species total)
>
>I saw at least a dozen different species the next night in
>Cumberland county.
>Moths rule!!!

I agree (though anyone who knows me knew this already).  I must admit, 
however, that this November has been pretty interesting.  Here's a little 
tale . . .
_____________

Last week (Nov. 6) I found my first specimen of Meropleon cosmion from 
Georgia at a Gas Station I visit every morning on my way to work.  The 
reason I visit is, of course, to check for the moths that came into the 
lights the previous night.  Well, the Meropleon cosmion was a real pleasant 
surprise -- although undoubtedly in S. GA, I had no idea it ever made it 
this far north.  The only drawback was that when I went to take the 
specimen off the boards . . . AAAHH, something had *eaten* most of it. It 
was the only moth on the board that was touched (isn't this one of the 
axiom's of Murphy's Law?). I don't think it was a mouse -- there are no 
other indications that it was something that large and I believe it would 
have eaten a number of other things on the board. My guess is something 
like a house centipede (Scutigiera sp.). There was a head and just enough 
thorax left to glue back to the pin and give me something to glue the wings 
to. Yeah, all four wings came through in reasonably decent shape. Oh well, 
at least I still have an *identifiable* specimen -- as I mentioned above, 
it is my only one from Georgia.

Well, I went to NE GA over this past weekend, with the hope of getting a 
few very late season moths.  Although there were very few moths 
encountered, I did happen to get a couple of brand new moths for 
Georgia.  A late fall geometrid, Epirrita autumnata was flying, and 
spreading the Epirrita autumnata took away some of the sting of the eaten 
M. cosmion, and a Lithophane species I got seems likely to be laticinerea, 
another new moth for GA, so that made me feel better as well.

And, to top it all off, last night on my porch I was looking around at the 
many moths that came in (mostly Plathypena scabra) and noticed a silhouette 
of a plusiine and went to investigate. Turns out my first thought when 
looking at it was the thyatirid Pseudothyatira cymatophoroides, but it 
didn't really match. Then I realized I was looking at my first ever 
Mouralia tinctoides. It is now on the boards, inside a cabinet so it won't 
get eaten, along with the NE GA stuff.

Oh yeah, got a reasonably fresh Catocala robinsoni on the way to work this 
morning at the same gas station!

James



James K. Adams
Phone: (706)272-4427
FAX:  (706)272-2235
Visit the Georgia Lepidoptera Website:
    http://www.daltonstate.edu/galeps/
Also check out the Southern Lepidopterists' Society new Website:
    http://www.southernlepsoc.org/
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