Nemoria splendidaria back in the US

[Mike Quinn]

Bruce,

You might wanna try an ol' beetle collectors trick (taught to me by Ed
Riley).

After a while, turn off your mercury vapor light and run a 2 foot black
light bulb. The merc often overpowers the bugs, so to speak, keeping them at
a distance. The small blacklight allows the bugs to reach your sheet...

Mike Quinn, Austin
________________
Texas Entomology
http://texasento.net


On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 1:33 PM, Bruce Walsh <jbwalsh at u.arizona.edu> 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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