Nemoria splendidaria back in the US

[Bruce Walsh]

Quoting Vincent P Lucas <vplucas at comcast.net>:

> 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
>
>

Vincent:

Excellent question.  Given that all 12 were very fresh males, and 
collected in a
roughly 10 foot circle in the middle of thousands of acres of identical 
habitat,
its pretty clear the bug is in good shape.  For example, until recently,
"Biston" multidentata (Guedet 1941) [ MONA 6641 ] was known from 
roughly a dozen
total specimens, all but 2 females.  However, this year in the right 
habitat we
routinely saw 30-50 males, all of which flew just before sunset or just before
sunrise.  Again, much more common than thought, just that the normal sampling
methods, locations, and time only catch those few individuals that strayed
widely from their core habitat.

We are blessed here in SE Arizona with huge areas of habitat for almost 
all our
bugs.  If this was a small isolated hammock in S FLorida, we would have 
treated
it very differently!


 
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