Stop Please

Thu Oct 28 23:04:09 EDT 2010

I've been having some nice late season moth action here in PA, including 3 species I've never encountered before in the state.  Last Sat., 10/23 I went with Sam Smith collecting in an Alder swamp area in Tioga county in northern PA.  It was a beautiful Oct. evening with temps in the mid-50's. 
The coyotes were howling and the beavers were slapping their tails and the moths were abundant.  My truck was in for repairs so Sam picked me up and I decided to just go with bait since it would be a tight fit to get my generator and light gear in his vehicle.  That was a mistake. 
The bait was working quite well but the nicest catches were coming from his sheet.  Sam was hoping for his first Ufeus satyricus which he got at his light in short order.  While he was dealing with pinning some specimens I noticed an unusual looking moth crawling on the ground about 10' from his sheet.  It was Striacosta albicosta which has recently made a huge push eastward and was first recorded in the state in 2009.
While my bait had some good action none of it was too unusual.  I had taken Lithophane oriunda here last year and was hoping for a repeat and also for the species I had originall come to this area for, Lithophane pexata, which I still have never taken.  Sam had run a short bait trail and as luck would have it he had 1 L. pexata on one tree.  Later that evening he got the first Homoglaea hircina I've ever seen in the fall and to top things off a Thera juniperata which I didn't even expect to see in PA.
I like butterflies but I looove moths, and especially from Sept. - April when I would essentially be out of commision in PA if I stuck with butterflies.
Also about 6 species of Acleris showed up, some of which will require the talents of Mike Sabourin to determine.

Steve Johnson
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Hugh McGuinness 
  To: Leps List 
  Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2010 2:53 PM
  Subject: Stop Please

  I know Leps-list is supposed to mimic the wild west, but can we stop this non-productive commentary about Monarch Watch and get back to the biology of Leps? Here are some threads I'd personally love to see discussed:

  1. Anybody have some really exciting finds this past season?
  2. Anybody noting any range expansions?
  3. Anybody find any new exotic species this season?
  4. Any undescribed species uncovered in your neck of the woods? 

  I'll start:

  In July I found Eacles imperialis at Montauk Long Island (NY) for only the second time ever away from Shelter Island, where the species still thrives. A little later in the month I also found 3 Citheronia regalis at Montauk, the first time I have ever had multiple individuals on Long Island. This species also only occurs on Shelter Island and at Montauk. For both of these species, I believe that these populations are the only ones that remain in the state, although Eacles may hang on in the Adirondacks.

  Here's my question. Shelter Island is an island and Montauk is island-like being separated from the rest of Long Island by the open and scrubby Napeague isthmus. All of the other Saturniidae are more abundant in these two places than on the rest of LI. This has caused me to speculate that perhaps Saturniids persist here because of freedom from parasitoids, particularly from Compsilura. So my question is this: are there other islands on which Saturniids show increased abundance? And, is there any data about islands (or specific habitats) that offer relief from parasitoid loads in Saturniids?

  Hugh

  On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 11:26 AM, Roger Kuhlman <rkuhlman at hotmail.com> wrote:

    I don't know if Monarch Watch is an up and up conservation/environmental organization or not but it is true that many so-called environmental organizations are basically just liberal democratic party lobbying groups with a top concern of providing good jobs for their staff. That becomes pretty obvious when you look at the refusal of "environmental" groups such as the Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, the National Wildlife Federation, and the League of Conservation Voters to advocate the control of human population growth in the United States. Liberal Democratic Elites, their patrons, would not like then doing that.

    Roger Kuhlman
    Ann Arbor, Michigan

    > Subject: Re: [DPLEX-L:41884] MONARCH WATCH ANNOUNCES BRING BACK THE
    > MONARCHS CAMPAIGN
    >
    > On 27/10/2010 20:11, Grkovich, Alex wrote:
    > Send money, right?
    >
    > Not a chance...
    >
    > What is the matter Alex? Been sniffing the anaesthetic again? :-)
    >
    >
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  -- 
  Hugh McGuinness
  The Ross School
  18 Goodfriend Drive
  East Hampton, NY 11937

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