leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Nov 28, 2017 19:01:54 GMT -8
I am currently in Martinsville, Indiana collecting moths in Morgan State Forest (Low Gap Area) and Yellowwood State Forest (Possum Trot Ridge Area). I am looking for winter/cold weather moths. I have six(6) light traps set out, three (3) in each area. I also set out three(3) kill type bait traps in the Low Gap area only.
I will recover my light traps tomorrow AM and return home tomorrow afternoon. Should I collect moths, I will post photographs Wednesday or Thursday.
And Bill Garth, what is wrong with my humor? My wife likes my jokes!
I will also post some photographs of Papaipema moths that I collected in late summer and in the fall. I began removing them from spreading boards on Monday.
Is anyone besides me collecting winter/ cold weather moths? If your are, let us hear from you.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2017 21:00:53 GMT -8
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Post by willyomt on Nov 30, 2017 0:23:12 GMT -8
Myself and a couple friends are hoping to be able to go collect some Winter Eupackardia calleta moths near Ajo, AZ. soon. We just need to get some rain in the area, and unfortunately it's been a very dry Fall so far.
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Nov 30, 2017 13:57:47 GMT -8
Yesterday morning I recovered six light traps. When I checked the stop thermometer on the first trap the temperature was 44 degrees. It achieved that reading at 11PM. I thought I would have very little in any trap. To my great surprise and delight, I had about 30+ moths per trap. However, I place one trap in the dry run off creek bed. There was water flowing from recent rains. However, the stop thermometer only read a low temp of 51 degrees. I reach down and touched the rocks in the creek bed and the running water in the creek and they were warm to the touch. I stuck the stop thermometer in amongst the rocks, I got a 68 degree reading and the creek water was 63 degrees. The trap had over a hundred moths.
I collected four species of Lithophane, four species of Eupsilia, several Noctuids I could not identify and a couple dozen Sunira bicolorago. The most stunning surprise was a single specimen of Feralia major. Several years ago I collected one off the wall of a Bus Shelter in the Raleigh Airport Parking Area on 9 January 2007. It is currently on a spreading board.
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Post by 58chevy on Nov 30, 2017 14:07:22 GMT -8
Hemileuca maia peigleri will be flying along the lower Texas coast around Christmastime. E. calleta just finished the fall flight (usually Oct. to early Nov.) in the same area.
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Post by nightwings on Dec 1, 2017 11:34:29 GMT -8
Apparently there may have been a Fall emergence of Hemileuca tricolor in southern AZ and northern Sonora in November. I reared a bunch of tricolor this summer and left the pupae with a friend while I was in MX this winter. The majority emerged between 11/1 and 11/22. Not meaningful by itself, b ut I found fresh 2 dead females south of Santa Anna, Sonora, MX on 11/27 and 11/30. Then I heard via willyomt about a male photographed around a week ago east of Tubac, AZ. Hope to hear more about Ajo, I have hunted for calleta larvae unsuccessfully there on occasions but found empty eggs and frass/droppings.
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Dec 9, 2017 16:51:58 GMT -8
Before the snow began to fly today, I thought it would be a good idea to check all of my Bait Traps until temperatures rise to 50+ degrees with overnight above 45+ degrees. It was a little brisk to say the least. Not much in the traps, a few flies, one lone Polygonia comma and a dead mouse. Replaced all of the bait and several older packs of Vapona. Hopefully, we will have a white Christmas. Below is a photograph of the first Eupsilia vinulenta. I like to collect cold weather moths. I will be removing more specmens from October/November spreading boards over the next several days and I will post more photographs.
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Dec 13, 2017 5:51:38 GMT -8
I have in incorrect determination on the moth below in a previous post. The correct name is Eupsilia cirripalea.
Below is another late flier Metaxaglea inulta. I collected this specimen in a light trap on 14 November 2017 in the Yellowwood State Forest, Brown County, Indiana. I collected several others in early October in both Yellowwood State Forest, Brown County and Morgan State Forest in Monroe County, Indiana.
I checked my Bait Traps yesterday and found absolutely nothing. It has been very cold the last several days.
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Dec 26, 2017 6:49:53 GMT -8
I traveled to Indiana on Friday, 21 December 2017 to continue the Survey/Inventory of the Lepidoptera of the Morgan State Forest in Monroe County and the Yellowwood State Forest in Brown County.
I had been watching the weather in the Martinsville , Indiana area for several weeks and the weather pattern for 21 & 22 December 2017 appeared to be a perfect time for Cold Weather/ Winter Moths. Thursday 21 December the high temp was 58 degrees with the low temp bottoming out at 44 degrees. Friday was even more enticing as the high temp of 62 degrees at 3PM and tapering off to 50 degrees at 1AM. Between 1AM and 7AM the temp would drop to 30 degrees with a strong incoming cold front. I arrived at the Possum Trot Trail Head parking area only to find the roadway gated due to the beginning of a logging operations. I set out two light traps along the Possum Trot Road adjacent to the Trail Head. I set a Stop Thermometer on the first light trap. The Temp was 60 degrees.
I traveled to the Low Gap Trail Head Parking Lot off the Low Gap Road. I set two Light Traps out. Both Light Traps along a run off creek through a very old forest area. I set a Stop Thermometer on the first light trap with a temp of 62 degrees. I also stuck a Soil Thermometer in the dry run off creek bed near the second light trap. The ground Temp was 45 degrees.
I traveled to Martinsville to overnight. Had a tasty meal at Indy’s. A local restaurant with great food at a good price. About 2AM I was awakened by some commotion in the motel hallway. I got up and looked out the window to a moderate rain fall. I assumed I would be getting wet on Saturday morning.
I was up on the road to the Low Gap Trail Head parking lot at 7:30AM. The temp was 33 degrees and only a trace of snow was falling. I recovered the two light traps. The stop thermometer stopped working. (I had purchased six(6) Stop Thermometers at an auction in Greenwood, MS in 1995 for less than $2.00 each. Beginning in 2010 they began to fail, most likely due to age.) The temp on my Smart Phone was 29 degrees. I had about 20 moths in each trap. The “Keepers” are pictured below. A very light snow began to fall as I departed the Low Gap parking lot.
Double click the photograph to enlarge it.
When I arrived at the location of the first light trap near the Possum Trot Trail Head, the snow was putting it down. You can see the snow in the air and on the ground and the light trap in the photograph below. The stop thermometer read 28 degrees and a stiff cold wind began to pick up. When I arrive at the second light trap the snow continued to fall, I quickly recovered the light traps and sort both of them. I had 30 moths in the first light trap and only a dozen in the second.
Double click the photographs to enlarge them. I changed into dry cloths before beginning my journey home to Kentucky. This was the first time I had ever recovered light traps in the snow with freezing temperatures. As I departed the Yellowwood Forest, the snow really began to fall. I stopped at the McDonald’s in Nashville, Indiana for coffee, a large coffee to be sure. It spit snow and cold rain off and on all the way home.
I was exhausted by the time I arrived home. I stowed my light traps and gear. Put the batteries on chargers. Took a hot shower and Momma set me down to Chicken and Dumpling with warm home made Corn Bread. And for desert, Yellow Custard, a large bowel, My favorite dessert. Went to bed early. Momma, our three kittens (Cats), Misty, Missy and Sweety. A bed full to say the least.
Sunday morning I spread 42 moths. I have Eupsilia vinulenta, Eupsilia devia, Eupsilia morrisoni, Epiglaea decliva, Sericaglaea signata, Chaetaglaea sericea, several dozen Sunira bicolorago, Platysenta sutor, and Xystopeplus rufago. Not a bad haul, even in the snow.
I did not take or see a single Catocala or Papaipema moth. The Xystopeplus rufago are a first for me. The Epiglaea decliva doubles my current holdings.
Can anyone provide an identification for the Beetle. It is an iridescent blue on the underside. Also, I have never collected a beetle in a Light Trap in December before and was unaware that the were active in Cold Weather.
Anyone else been out collecting in December? And in the Snow. And collecting in Florida in December and January does not count as cold weather moths!
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Post by foxxdoc on Dec 28, 2017 11:49:18 GMT -8
night lighting for moths; my method;
seat at bar close to windows with a cold one and a chili dog and a ball game. watch for moths or others at window.
best wishes for new year.
tom
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Post by bandrow on Dec 28, 2017 17:29:05 GMT -8
Greetings,
Your beetle is a species of dung beetle in the genus Geotrupes. There are several species in that area and I can't be 100% from the image, but it could be G. semiopacus - just a guess, though. If you can prep it and provide images from above and below, I can give you a name.
Cheers! Bandrow
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Dec 30, 2017 5:13:13 GMT -8
I cannot believe that I am doing this, I have taken photographs of a "Beetle"................The destroyer of Moths in my traps!!
I assume Dung Beetles are active on warm nights during the winter. First Beetle I ever collected in December!
There was also a "Honey Bee" attached to the wiring of the vanes on the trap. I picked it off with tweezers and allowed it to climb onto A Shag Bark Hickory tree. Before I departed for the next trap, I looked for the bee but it was no where to be seen. It was about 35 degrees. Not balmy weather for Bee's. I assumed it climbed under some of the bark where it would remain until the weather warmed again.
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Post by bandrow on Dec 30, 2017 19:16:38 GMT -8
Greetings,
Well, even the greats have to stumble at some point - just tell your moth buddies that you were befuddled by the cold and didn't know you were photographing a beetle!
This genus is really tricky - the characters I need to see are the shape of the carina on the upper surface of the protibiae and the row of punctures on the ventral surface of the metafemora. Contrast in both areas is too dark, but I think, by process of elimination, I am comfortable calling it Geotrupes blackburnii. It appears to have distinct punctures in the elytral striae, ruling out G. semiopacus, the color is too dark for most G. splendidus, and the pronotum isn't punctured strongly enough to be G. hornii.
Additionally, G. hornii is a summer species, G. splendidus and semiopacus are spring through fall, but I've taken blackburnii in early March in central Tennessee. The data on BugGuide for blackburnii shows it occurring in every month but May and June (based on submitted images, so likely out somewhere all year) and as late as January for West Virginia. Not definitive, but helps narrow things a bit.
So, I'll accept the blame if the name turns out to be inaccurate - it will just be a dung beetle with a "crap" ID...
Happy New Years! Bandrow
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Jan 6, 2018 17:14:22 GMT -8
It is a New Year, 2018. It is currently 10 degrees in Georgetown, Kentucky. And -1 degree in Martinsville, Indiana. However, a warm up is due next week with the Day Time Temps in Martinsville reaching 62 degrees with a low temp of 46 degrees. Moths will be flying and I will have Light Traps ready to go. I have not checked my bait traps since 23 December 2017. Momma and the Kitty's where napping and it was a balmy 19 degrees so I decided to check my traps. I only checked two, No moths, no flies and the bait was frozen hard as a brick. I went home and joined Momma and the Kitty's in bed and took a nap with them. Just off the spreading boards. A very small Arctid moth: Cisthene striata. Collected in the Turkey Oaks southwest of Williston, Florida 2 October 2017. This is not an easy moth to find and spread. I have about 20 specimens from over 20 collecting trips. I only have one female.
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Post by leptraps on Jan 13, 2018 14:27:31 GMT -8
I made another trip to the Morgan-Monroe State Forest (It got a new name for 2018. They have combined several State Forests into one.) in Monroe County and Yellowwood State Forest in Brown County, Indiana on Wednesday 10 January 2018. The weather was perfect for Cold Weather /Winter moths. The High temp on Wednesday 10 Jan 2018 was 62 degrees with and over night low of 51 degrees. I set out six (6) Light Traps. Two (2) in the Low Gap area and four (4) in the Yellowwood State Forest near the Possum Trop Trail Head.
Prior to the mid-winter thaw, the area had six (6) inches of snow and a three (3) week hard freeze with the temperature never above freezing. The warm temperatures filled the Run Off Creeks with water and turned the trials into slop shoots. The mud was 2 to 6 inches in depth in several locations. I was slip sliding away......
After setting out my Light Traps I stayed over night in Martinsville. The next morning I was up and gone by 8AM. The drive to Low Gap was, as always, interesting. I observed a large field with 100+ crows and an unknown number of Starlings. Low Gap Road followed the contour of the field. I blew my horn and set them all to flight.
I recovered my two Light Traps at Low Gap. As I was returning to my car I came across 5 or 6 Coyotes. They were not moving, sort of eyeing me over. I never go into the forest without a pistol (Just in case, a small 22 Caliber). I fired off a shot into the air and sent the Coyotes running in the opposite direction.
The two Light Traps contained about 80 moths. Most of them were Plathypena scabra (Green Cloverworm Moth), Sunira bicolorago and a Geometerid Anaacamptiodes defectaria (?? I am not sure of the species. I will check it out at the UK collection during my next visit in February).
I was only able to take one photograph as the battery in my Camera went dead and this is the only photograph I was able to take. I attempted some photographs with my cell phone and they are way too dark. However, there are some photographs of spreading boards with specimens. The uncovered specimen (Not the best photograph) in Eupsilia morrisoni. I have also included other photographs of spreading board full of specimens. I have been ask a number of times how I mount moths. Well, here are photographs that should help explain how it is done.
The Keepers
Double click to enlarge above photographs.
I departed Low Gap and traveled to Yellowwood State Forest. I had four (4) Light Traps set out, one was extremely deep in a very old forest. I am not even sure it was in the Yellowwood State Forest as there is a lot of private property in this area. It contained about 20 moths, two of which I could not identify. The second trap was knocked over, there were many deer tracks around the trap. I have had this happen before. However, it had 11 moths, several Eupsilia devia and a single male Lithophane bethunei. The third and fourth traps had about 50 moths each. Mostly the same as the other, however, I did take a ragged wing worn Xanthis togata. This is not the habitat for this moth. How it came to be here, I do not know. I would have loved to found it several months earlier. It is a knock out moth. The specimen in the photograph below was collected in NE Illinois in 2007.
Xanthia togata
I was damp and covered with some mud when I finished sorting my last light trap. However, I was not done yet. During my December trip to Indiana I set out four Kill Type Bait Traps. Two in Perry County, Indiana and one each in Morgan Monroe and Yellowwood State Forests. There were 50+ butterflies and moths in each trap in Perry County. I dumped them into Tupperware containers and continued my journey north. (I checked these traps on my way up to Morgan Monroe/ Yellowwood State Forest). The Kill Type traps in the Morgan Monroe and Yellowwood State Forest only had about 20 moths each, some odd looking flies. I dumped these too into tupperware containers to be sorted when I returned home. I added more cut up apples with sugar and some water to the bait in the Bait Traps. It began spitting rain earlier in the morning and by the time I began my journey home, it was putting down the rain. I stopped at the General Dollar in Bean Blossom and they let me change into dry clothes in their Men’s Room. In appreciation I bought some snacks and a Diet Coke before beginning my drive home.
Since returning home I sorted out the Kill Type Bait Traps. The Perry County contained several dozen Lithophane and Eupsilia moths, several Polygonia comma and a lone Nymphalis antiopa. The Morgan Monroe/Yellowwood State Forest traps were mostly Lithophane and Eupsilia. I took several Lithophane patefacta, L. petulca, L. hemina and a lone L. signosa. The L. signosa was new for me. I also collected several Eusilia tristigmata and Xestopelus rufago. I mounted all of the moths that I collected, 182 specimens to be exact, between Friday and Saturday morning.
Saturday morning I awoke to 4 inches of snow and the temp at 12 degrees. A good day to work in my collection, empty spreading boards and take a nice snooze with Momma and the Kitties this afternoon. All in a days work......
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