Nemoria splendidaria back in the US

Vincent P Lucas vplucas at comcast.net
Thu Jul 15 15:17:23 EDT 2010


So, by my calculations, that's a total of 12 or so specimens taken in  
all. Just how big do you think this "local" population is and if it's  
that rare, perhaps prudence should be the operative word with  
regarding to collecting it? Just my 2-cents' worth. . . .

Vincent Lucas
Naples, FL

On Jul 15, 2010, at 2:33 PM, Bruce Walsh wrote:

> The striking green geo Nemoria splendidaria (MONA 7038), figured at
> http://nitro.biosci.arizona.edu/zeeb/butterflies/figs/moths/Geometridae/Geometrinae/7038.jpg
> is a bug of legend for us moth-ers here in SE Arizona.  In  
> Ferguson's (1985)
> MONA on the green geos, he lists two US records, both from the  
> Huachuca Mts in
> SE Arizona):  The holotype from Palmerlee (described in 1910) and a  
> record from
> Sunnyside Canyon in 1958.
>
> As all great lep tales go, this one happened by accident.  Tucson  
> collectors
> John Palting and Ray Nagle were planning on heading up to Mt Graham  
> last
> Saturday for some lighting, a three hour drive.  Running late, they  
> decided to
> collect up on Carr Canyon in the Huachucas.  At around 3:30 am, a  
> very fresh
> pslendidaria came to the light, but settled away from the sheet, on  
> the ground.
> John ended up taking three more around (but never on) his sheet, and  
> one in his
> trap.  An outstanding record!
>
> Last night, I ventured back to the same location (round 7400 feet).   
> Around
> 1:30, a splendiadaria settled on the ground about 3 feet away from  
> my lights,
> also very fresh.  It was eventually joined by three others (the last  
> being
> detected around 4:30 am), again, all away from the lights.  My two  
> light traps
> yielded three more, for a total of seven.  Again, as with John's all  
> were very
> fresh.
>
> I suspect that this is not a case of splendidaria becoming  
> reestablished, but
> rather a local bug that does not come directly to light that flies  
> (high
> elevation, start of the monsoon) at locations not generally collected.
>
> cheers
>
> bruce
>
>
>
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