My 2nd Black Witch Moth!

[boghaunter1]

Hello Fellow Collectors,

I had a rather pleasant surprise this morning, when I peered into one of my B.L. traps, (1 of 6 traps in my farm yd.), & found a tattered, but very active female Black Witch moth (Ascalapa odorata)! This is, unbelievably, the 2nd Black Witch moth that I have collected in my yd., at this central NE location (52.46.878 N, 103.35.920 W), in Saskatchewan, Canada. My first specimen was a surprisingly good condition male Black Witch moth collected in another Black light trap long ago on the 24th Aug. 2007! It is very early in the season to see a B.W. moth this far north... in fact... yrs. ago when I collected my 1st B.W. moth, I did an extensive search for all Sask. B.W. records (@ the C.N.C. in Ottawa, @ the Royal Natural History Museum in Regina & @ the Ag Canada Research Station in Saskatoon). I discovered, incredibly, at that time, 11 records for Sask. ranging from 16 July 1945(Saskatoon)to the 26th July 1989 (Regina). My male B.W. moth of 24 Aug. 2007 was the 12th record for SK. I have also discovered a photo record of another B.W. moth for Prince Albert (a little farther N. in SK than my location)... however I can't find a date for it (photo was published sometime in the 1980's in the "P.A. Herald"). That would be record #13. This latest female B.W. moth that I collected today would be the 14th record for Sask... quite remarkable numbers for such a northern location! This latest stray female B.W. moth is also the earliest recorded date for this species in the province. The previous earliest recorded date was 07 July 1976 again at Regina. Another interesting fact that I also discovered yrs. ago was that 2 of the other B.W. moth records for SK, previous to my 1st male capture of 2007, were made at Porcupine Plain, SK... only 18 miles SE of my home town of Bjorkdale!

Both of these B.W. moths, collected 11 yrs. apart, at the same location, were obviously strays probably blown far off course by powerful southern winds/storms. Interestingly enough my 1st male B.W. moth capture on 24 Aug. 2007 was just over a week after powerful Category 5 (max 175 mph!) hurricane "Dean" swept through the Caribbean & hit landfall in the southern U.S.A. 16-18 Aug. 2007. This 2nd female B.W. appearance is more puzzling as there have been no recorded powerful hurricanes in the southern states as it is still early in the hurricane season. Only one major subtropical storm "Alberto" was recorded in late May. All previous hurricane data was gleaned from searches on Google & Wikipedia. This latest moth did, however, show up during a very rainy night... it rained continuously & gently all night long with 9/10"(23mm) accumulation by this morning. The night was also relatively calm with very little winds.

A plug for BioQuip...I trapped this latest B.W. moth in a simple B.L. trap that I built last winter using a new 110V, 20W, self-ballasted compact fluorescent bulb (#2807X)I purchased from BioQuip last yr. I actually bought 8 of them & used 2 others together in one trap & another I added atop a 250 M.V. Trap. These little lights are incredibly bright & effective (do not look directly at them!)& really draw in the moths(comparable to Leroy K's Quantum B.L. tubes). Being so small & compact & being able to be screwed into any common light socket makes them very handy for air travel & for local use at home (110V)or for use in remote locations using an ordinary 12V automotive battery (deep cycle is the best) & an inexpensive low watt inverter.

John K.


2nd Female Black Witch moth from Bjorkdale, SK, CANADA - 02 July 2018

[boghaunter1]

My 1st Male Black Witch Moth at Bjorkdale, SK. Canada - 24 Aug. 2007



John K.

[eurytides]

No eggs from the female?

[boghaunter1]

Hi Eurytides,

I never kept the moth alive to obtain eggs... there was no hope of finding the larval food plants here in Sask. as this is a tropical/semitropical sp. found in S. Am., C. America, Mexico & the southern U.S, border states from Florida across to California. The Black Witch is resident (breeding) yr. round in S. Florida & S. Texas... Texas, New Mexico, Arizona & California have the most B.W. moth records for the U.S... see Mike Quinn's website at: texasento.net/witchusmap.htm . I did some calculations as to the distance from my home town of Bjorkdale to the southern most B.W. locations in California (San Diego ~1,900 mi. or 3,100 kms away) Texas (Brownsville ~2,300 mi. or 3,700 kms away) & Florida (Miami ~2,700 mi. or 4,300 kms away). Bjorkdale averages 2,300 mi. or 3,700 kms away from the known southern most U.S. B.W. moth breeding range! As well I was able to find on the internet around 20 different known larval food plants of the B.W. moth... none of these occurs in frigid Sask (with 6-7 months of winter & -40 C temps)...or even close to it. Cassia, Catsclaw, Candle Bush (Senna sp.), Edible Fig & other B.W. moth food plants aren't found in Canada's prairie provinces. Other S. & S.E. U.S.A food plant examples such as Locust & Kentucky Coffee trees occur only near Point Pelee in southern most Ontario, Canada (the same latitude as northern California!). Any female B.W. moth laying eggs this far north at 52 degrees N. latitude is doomed to failure... as mentioned in my original thread the 2 B.W. moths captured at Bjorkdale, Sask. on 24 Aug. 2007 & yesterday on 02 July 2018 were very rare strays, even though there is some evidence that the B.W. moth does seem to naturally migrate northwards (some with the help of strong winds/storms) beginning in June of each yr.

As a matter of interest... the current northern most record in N. America (north of Mexico) is for a female B.W. moth collected on 18 Aug. 2006, on a rocky outcropping jutting out into Hudson Bay, near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada on 18 Aug. 2006. Manitoba is the province alongside Saskatchewan's eastern border. This relatively recent record surpasses an old Auke Bay (near Juneau, Alaska) record from 1957.

Having said all this I would have loved to obtain eggs & rear out some B.W. moth larvae this far north, however... what was I to feed them? Rearing out the larvae of N. America's largest Noctuid/Cutworm moth at around 3" (75mm) in length would be awesome. It would be interesting to hear from any more central & northernmost U.S. collectors who may have encountered & reared out B.W. larvae...

John K.

[eurytides]

Yes, I did think food plant might be a limiting factor. I am in eastern Ontario and I saw Cassia for sale at a nursery a few weeks ago. Thought you might be able to get that. Certainly, none of our native plants will do.

[leptraps]

Your first specimen that you collected in 2007 is in excellent condition. I think it has other host plants unknown. While living in south Florida in the late 1980's, I reared it once and found larvae a number of times. I have collected specimens in Cleveland, OH 1961, 1968 and 1992. In Virginia in May of 1980 and October of 1981. I have ten specimens from Kentucky, all in good condition. 1977, 2001(2), 2007, 2009, 2012 (2) and 2017(3). All of them collected in Bait Traps.

In 1992 I set out several Bait Traps on north Key Largo and collecred hundreds of Black Witches. You could not see through the screen cylinders.

I believe Black Witches have multiple host plants. I found larva on Brazilian Pepper more than once.