Catocala 2018

[Jonn]

Past two weeks by bait i've been getting the usual amatrix, ilia, piatrix & maestosa. Also a few cara the past couple nights & one mulierucla. Should start seeing more cottonwood/willow species (carissima/unijuga) in a week or two & if i'm lucky one I've yet to see (marmorata/concumbens/parta/relicta)

[coloradeo]

I collected Habrosyne gloriosa in Southern Wisconsin this year, a member of Drepanidae.

Weird drop off in Catocala for me over the past two weeks. I have only seen one. Wondering if I have bad bait or what I am doing wrong as last year at this time I was chasing away C a matrix.

[leptraps]

Do you ad beer/wine/whiskey to your bait? If you do it will eventually turn to vinegar and not even flies like vinegar.

How often do you replace your bait? I use all natural, fruit,sugar and water, the bait should last 4 to 6 days depending on the volume of insects. You should add water or Sugar Water daily. Once the bait looks depleted and replace it.

I replacec the bait in my traps every four (4) days, regardless. I carry a three (3) gallon pail and take the old bait with me. The last stop on my bait trail I dump the old bait in the edge of the woods where I park my car. Raccoons, opossums and small rodents make the old bait disappear.

For best results, change out your bait regularly. Also, try finding some Persimmons. It is a great bait. Just a small amount of sugar and water and it is the very best bait. In 2017 I picked up almost a peck of persimmons. I only begin to use them in early August. I have enough Persimmon bait to last till mid September.

Other great baits are Peaches and Nectarines. Just ad a small amount of water and sugar. However, it is a short life bait. Four (4) days maximum.

I should write a book on baiting and baits. I would title it " The Master Baiter". Now that title is a hand full, possibly two!!!

[Jonn]

Past couple years i've been using the same bait. A mixture of 10 bananas to 1 cup dark brown sugar for my flat bottoms and just rotting bananas for my slotted pan. Both seem to catch a lot and it makes me wonder if the dark brown sugar is even necessary

I notice you mention persimmon a lot and i'm really tempted to finally try them. I know where a lot of persimmon trees are but i have no idea when the fruit ripen.

[fishnbugz]

I'd judge the effectiveness of the bait by how many other moths are coming to it. It's been chilly here the last couple nights and not a lot of catocala showed up, but smaller moths were still very much attracted to the bait- zale, sunira, mythimna, and others.

We don't seem to have any Drepanidae here in my area of NE/SD, I pretty much collect any and all moths that are present. If I don't recognize it, I collect it, even if it is tiny or plain, and I use same strategy for most other insects too. I don't do much ants, mosquitos, gnats, etc, but almost any insect of reasonable size if it's present here I'm gonna try to have it represented in my collection.

As for catocala I still see amatrix and neogama almost every night. Piatrix there have been a few this season including one very nice one last night. I'm still hoping to see relicta the first week of September, but anything else I find would be a surprise. I'm also hoping to find a few more Parthenice Tiger moths in September in SD, but the season is winding down. Some fallen apples are available now, probably wild plums too, and I'll start prepping bait for next season very soon- I've got two gallon bags left in the freezer, which should easily last me the rest of the season.

[mothman27]

I biked to a spot just a 3 or 4 miles from my house yesterday where I remembered seeing very large cottonwood trees by the roadside. There were also lots of walnut trees and some Honey Locust. It was nearing dusk but still light enough to see clearly. As you probably know, yesterday was very chilly so I figured all the catocala, if any, would be high in the trees. After looking around the trunks of the 3 trees with no luck I tapped one and right at eye level a large one flew up and away. I was surprised at how low on the tree it was. Also, the cottonwood has light bark so I assume it was relicta, meskei or something of that sort. Whatever it was I will be returning in better weather to check for more. I have never collected many of the willow/cottonwood species such as relicta, marmorata, meskei, semirelicta, unijuga, briseis, concumbens, junctura. However I have collected amatrix, cara and parta. Also, an added plus, this location is right on the bank of the eel river so I am thinking this could be a great collecting location.

P.S. have you ever realized you were spelling a scientific name wrong?
I used to spell the following species as follows:
Goliathus goliathus
Catocala concubens
Papilio cresephontes

[kingha]

Using the flat bottom trap, do you have your bait below or above the bottom ring of the trap?

[fishnbugz]

The bait is below. The moths land and crawl in to the bait pan. When they leave, they usually just fly away rather than crawl out, so they fly up into the trap.

I put a trap in Dad's yard yesterday morning as I was going to go help him cut a few trees down at my sister's house. I left my vehicle there yesterday so I retrieved both today; Only one catocala and I need to look it over better, but it looks like it must be another luciana.  The wild plums are THICK over there this year.

I had a box labeled "Apantensis," and I had it in my head the same way for a long time. 

[kingha]

Bait pans for bio quip traps. Can not find anything that will fit. Any idea help

[leptraps]

I have converted most of my Flat Bottom Bait Traps to Slotted Pan. However, I beleive I catch more Butterflies in the Flat Bottom Bait Trap. As soon as I assemble my new Shadow Bottom Slotted Pan, I post a few pictures.

I originally designed the Shadow Bottom for a Tropics Bait Trap. I sold a number of them to some folks in the Philippines. I think they advertise here on Insectnet.

I am currently in Martinsville, Indiana. I set out four Light traps in the Morgan Monroe SF in the Low Gap area. As I drove to Martinsville from Low Gap, I passed the beautiful field full of flowers, especially Joe Pie Weed. Just before the field was a farm house with someone in the yard. I decided to stop and ask if I set out a Light Trap (Looking for Papaipema moths.). To my great surprise, it was the home of the Morgan Monroe SF Forest Manager. This is the guy who signed my Collecting Permit. We had a nice conversation and I now have a Light Trap in the center of his field.

[Jonn]

Only a few Catocala this morning but i did get what i believe is a slightly worn neogama (first one in almost two weeks) though to me it is the most subnata (female) looking one i've ever caught.

[fishnbugz]

I know some of you have good success tree-tapping. How often do you guys look on man-made structures for catocala? The first time I caught C cara, I knew nothing about nothing. I had placed a few minnow traps under a bridge in September, and when I went to grab them I flushed a very red "butterfly" that I did not recognize. It landed, I investigated and caught it by hand. I had no clue what it was for several years after, until I did some studying- and even then I had the idea that underwings were very uncommon in my area.

Some years later, I was at Lake Ogallala in Western NE. I was leaving a vault toilet, let the door slam and almosr instantly a paper wasp nailed me right on the neck. From there on out I was extra cautious looking for wasp nests under every sill, and I ended up spotting and netting a Moth hiding under the sill of another toilet. It was Catocala Luciana, and it prompted me to do a whole lot more looking on trees, shelters, etc., but I didn't find any more.

At this point I have collected a few cara, parta, and one junctura, all taken from one particular shed at the old family place in South Dakota. It faces east, is fairly well shaded and sheltered by trees, and has some black particle board lining the inside(and has no door). Once in a while I spot one under the sill of a few other outbuildings, but mostly it is the one shed they always seem to hide in. There is no light attracting them at night, it's just a small lawnmower storage shed...but in season, it's one of the first places I check when I get up there.

I often scan dark undersills for moths(and wasps!) with at least some success, but despite some looking I have never caught a catocala by actual tree-tapping here.

[bugboys3]

My trap in the back yard had over 20 Catocala in it this morning. Several paleogama, neogama, amatrix, insolabilis, obscura, 1 cara, 2 innubens and a couple of Zale lunata. I had a hard time trying to determine if there was anything different in there.

I am still waiting to see cerogama and relicta. If the weather holds up in Southern Wisconsin I should have 4 more weeks of trapping. This has by far been the best season in the 4 years I have been trapping for Catocala moths.

[mothman27]

Aug 24, 2018 7:37:57 GMT -8 fishnbugz said:

I know some of you have good success tree-tapping. How often do you guys look on man-made structures for catocala? The first time I caught C cara, I knew nothing about nothing. I had placed a few minnow traps under a bridge in September, and when I went to grab them I flushed a very red "butterfly" that I did not recognize. It landed, I investigated and caught it by hand. I had no clue what it was for several years after, until I did some studying- and even then I had the idea that underwings were very uncommon in my area.

Some years later, I was at Lake Ogallala in Western NE. I was leaving a vault toilet, let the door slam and almosr instantly a paper wasp nailed me right on the neck. From there on out I was extra cautious looking for wasp nests under every sill, and I ended up spotting and netting a Moth hiding under the sill of another toilet. It was Catocala Luciana, and it prompted me to do a whole lot more looking on trees, shelters, etc., but I didn't find any more.

At this point I have collected a few cara, parta, and one junctura, all taken from one particular shed at the old family place in South Dakota. It faces east, is fairly well shaded and sheltered by trees, and has some black particle board lining the inside(and has no door). Once in a while I spot one under the sill of a few other outbuildings, but mostly it is the one shed they always seem to hide in. There is no light attracting them at night, it's just a small lawnmower storage shed...but in season, it's one of the first places I check when I get up there.

I often scan dark undersills for moths(and wasps!) with at least some success, but despite some looking I have never caught a catocala by actual tree-tapping here.

First of all, I sympathize with you on the paper wasp sting, those thinks hurt! I have had some success with this on a small log cabin near our woods. I have found cara, amatrix and robinsonii. Also, on our chicken coop I have found cara, amatrix and piatrix. I wonder if anyone has has success under cement bridges?  I have heard under wooden bridges and in old wooden shed are great places to check.

[phanaeus1]

Yes,here in Lake county;Ca. earlier this summer I would on occasion find a couple of unidentified Catocala(allways on the east side of my home)on the faded grey siding where they were well camoflauged,i also have collected these same 2 species at a small light source(a  black light covered with a white sheet) however ,just as the season started to become promising=more catocala at my light,Lake County=the north shore of Clearlake experienced severe fires which burned within a mile or less of our home in Glenhaven, a wall of flames over 12 miles long and up to 100 feet high in places.This is California's largest wildfire with over 350.000 acres burned(and still not contained)and this is small potatos compared of course to the incineration of homes and property etc.but since that inferno passed through, moths of any species are very rare,with no Catocala present at all(or Sphingidae).I cant help but consider the saying "like moths to the flame"as an  apt metaphor for what has happened in Lake County.Phanaeus1/Glenhaven/Ca.