oslari
Junior Member
My profile is of the great Hemileuca electra clio. Teenage lepidoptera hobbyist.
Posts: 43
Country: USA
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Post by oslari on Aug 29, 2021 12:29:21 GMT -8
Since I didn't choose to go to AZ this summer due to poor results, I want to hear how the mothing season was for people who did go or people who live there. What species did you find in large quantities and which did you find in small quantities or not at all?
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evra
Full Member
Posts: 230
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Post by evra on Aug 29, 2021 18:34:19 GMT -8
It was pretty bad, which was what I and most other people expected. Saturniids, Sphingids, Arctiids and Notodontids were in very low numbers and diversity. The plus side is that the summer monsoon season has been the strongest ever recorded, with most areas south and east of Tucson getting between 12-20” of rain. This has caused an absolute explosion in butterflies that have influxed from Mexico and stimulated large amounts of vegetation, so there are huge numbers of a lot of different larvae, which means that next year will likely be a banner year.
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oslari
Junior Member
My profile is of the great Hemileuca electra clio. Teenage lepidoptera hobbyist.
Posts: 43
Country: USA
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Post by oslari on Aug 29, 2021 19:19:05 GMT -8
It was pretty bad, which was what I and most other people expected. Saturniids, Sphingids, Arctiids and Notodontids were in very low numbers and diversity. The plus side is that the summer monsoon season has been the strongest ever recorded, with most areas south and east of Tucson getting between 12-20” of rain. This has caused an absolute explosion in butterflies that have influxed from Mexico and stimulated large amounts of vegetation, so there are huge numbers of a lot of different larvae, which means that next year will likely be a banner year. That will be great! Praying for a banner year to get a good start to my AZ trips. |
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Post by exoticimports on Aug 30, 2021 5:43:49 GMT -8
Good intel evra , thanks
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Post by mswisher on Sept 3, 2021 11:15:20 GMT -8
I can second Evan's report. Over three nights during the monsoon plus one night just before the monsoon on top of Mt. Bigelow, I probably only saw about two dozen individual Saturniid specimens (A. oculea, C. splendens, E. oslari, A. cecrops pamina, S. hubbardi, and A. homogena). I didn't see any S. raspa, S. montana, A. hesselorum, or A. patagoniensis, which I have seen every year before this year. Sphingid numbers were also way down and there were several usual species not seen at all. That being said, even in such a down year, the overall diversity in SE AZ is still better than almost anywhere else. This was my 7th year in a row during the monsoon, and so far I have identified at least 14 new species that I collected, with about 3/4's of my catch that still needs to be spread and identified. Here is my list of the new species to provide a sense of the diversity:
Grotella binda
Grotella tricolor
Eudesmia arida
Diathrausta harlequinalis
Cisthene angelus
Nemoria albaria
Melemaea virgata
Chlorosea roseitacta
Pseudohemihyalea ambigua
Agapema homogena
Crambidia cephalica
Eulithosia discistriga
Hypotrix alamosa
Dioryctria rossi
If anyone is interested in coming next year, don't hesitate to reach out. It should be pretty good.
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Post by exoticimports on Sept 3, 2021 12:03:19 GMT -8
Every year I say I’ll return next year
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