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Post by mothman27 on Jun 28, 2018 3:18:22 GMT -8
I got my first Catocala of 2018 on June 26, a beat up female C. clintonii. This morning I got a C. grynea. Both at light.
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Jun 28, 2018 4:22:17 GMT -8
I check all of my Bait traps on Wednesday. I got caught in several fast moving thunderstorms and got totally drenched. Not once, but four times.
I must claim that this will be the year of Catocala ilia. I had several in each bait trap. Catocala grynea is a close second with Catocala micronympha coming in third. I also collected a single Catocala mira and several Catocala lineella.I have several other small yellow hindwing Catocala. I think they are Catocala minuta. All are currently on spreading boards.
Looks like a good year for Catocala. It is also a good year for Zale and Acronicta.
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Post by jhyatt on Jun 28, 2018 4:29:39 GMT -8
We're now 7 inches of rain above average for the year here, and I can't keep bait in the trap - it gets washed out every night. No Catocalas in several days, just the odd Zale, Limenitis or satyr. Few butterflies on the wing, but then of course it's socked-in cloudy every day. Back to the freezer fro old stuff to spread, I guess. jh
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Post by Jonn on Jun 28, 2018 7:55:09 GMT -8
We had record rainfall here in May and i thought the season was over before it began. Thankfully this month has been dry and hot but the only Catocala i've seen is grynea (2). I usually see ilia & ultronia is decent numbers by now. A ilia bust would be great as i always get too many of them, just hope other species (except amatrix/maestosa/piatrix) show up in decent numbers.
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Post by fishnbugz on Jun 28, 2018 9:50:32 GMT -8
Sunday I had one or 2 minuta in each trap, and 1 Enodia anthedon(uncommon here). Monday it rained steady all day and I found out I had crap to do later in the week, so I split for the camper(SD). I set up the lights, and found a soaked Nymphalis antiopa in a trap while rebaiting those. I went down and fished a while, but no action so back to the camper. The trap right next to the deck had a moth resting in it, despite it being broad daylight. It was Catocala abbreviatella. The time was 8pm. I caught a nice clintonii in the same trap about dusk, but it was soaking wet and not much bug activity. Tues morn there wasn't much at the lights or in the traps, and the fishing seemed slow, so I concentrated on getting the mowing done. In the afternoon I was mowing when I spotted an interesting bug but failed to catch it. I shut down and got the net, and eventually I crossed paths with it again. It turned out to be a very large black robberfly(I think?) that I'd never seen before. Dad showed up in the afternoon and we did pretty good on eating sized catfish that evening. I had lots of hope for Tuesday night, but found only a couple moths, an Amphion floridensis in a trap and a Lintneria eremitus on a light. The next morning was not much for bugs, none I wanted at the lights and only a beat up lytrosis in one trap. We did even better fishing, then I had to get home. The traps at home are still producing lots of minuta, but nothing else has started yet here. I might try to get up by the river tonight and see what's happening up there, depending on if there are still gale force winds then...
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Post by fishnbugz on Jun 28, 2018 21:59:37 GMT -8
Real windy tonight and a forecast of 97 tomorrow convinced me to stay home tonight and do the river bluffs tomorrow night. There was one Catocala illecta in a trap tonight when I rebaited before dark, and there was one grynea at first check. There have been at least 25 minuta tonight, they don't seem to care that the traps are moving a lot in the wind. There's another really dark black form parvula, a few lighter parvula, and a nice mellitula among the C. minuta.
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Post by jhyatt on Jun 29, 2018 4:06:00 GMT -8
Ran a sheet at about 5,000' on Unaka Mtn. in TN last night. Foggy, 63 degrees - should have been fine conditions. Saw one single C. ilia as the only Catocala. Did get Darapsa versicolor, but moths were generally bland... a few Saturnids, Pyralids, etc, but most moths just flew around, never even landed on the sheet. Very odd behavior.
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Post by LEPMAN on Jun 29, 2018 17:19:46 GMT -8
The Catocala diversity in the US is always very impressive, especially when compared to the relatively few handful of species of Catocala here in China.
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Post by fishnbugz on Jun 29, 2018 22:47:56 GMT -8
I put 13 traps out before dark in the oak bluffs along the river, did a check on a few about 10:30 and saw only one Ilia hanging out on the bottom of a slotted pan trap. I tried to catch it in a cup but failed. I let 'em hang another hour then picked them all up. Through the first 11 traps I had only 3 Ilia and one ultronia, but somehow I fumbled away all but one nice Ilia and was feeling pretty unhappy about it. Trap #12 had 1 grynea, and 3 amestris. Trap #13 had one grynea, one illecta, and one coccinata. I was happy again. The traps at home are plumb full of minuta again and two ultronia. I caught minuta, amica, and micronympha all at the same time last year along the river, but there were none of those species up there tonight.
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Post by mothman27 on Jul 1, 2018 3:47:12 GMT -8
I found my first illecta yesterday at the sheet. Although it had been beheaded by ants, the thorax, abdomen and wings were all in one piece and well worth keeping. I am happy to have found this neat species. It is very yellow compared to most of the other medium/large species I have found. I have also found two more grynea, one fresh C. blandula and an ultronia. so far it looks like a good year for Catocala. C. illecta
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Post by mothman27 on Jul 1, 2018 5:05:24 GMT -8
C. grynea
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Post by fishnbugz on Jul 1, 2018 18:14:25 GMT -8
Catocala amestris x3, bottom one normal, middle one form wescotti, and the top one partially shaded in the "opening".
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Jul 4, 2018 2:48:33 GMT -8
I put 13 traps out before dark in the oak bluffs along the river, did a check on a few about 10:30 and saw only one Ilia hanging out on the bottom of a slotted pan trap. I tried to catch it in a cup but failed. I let 'em hang another hour then picked them all up. Through the first 11 traps I had only 3 Ilia and one ultronia, but somehow I fumbled away all but one nice Ilia and was feeling pretty unhappy about it. Trap #12 had 1 grynea, and 3 amestris. Trap #13 had one grynea, one illecta, and one coccinata. I was happy again. The traps at home are plumb full of minuta again and two ultronia. I caught minuta, amica, and micronympha all at the same time last year along the river, but there were none of those species up there tonight. Fishnbugz, you appear to use lots of Bait Traps. 13 if I read that correctly. What type do you prefer? And just out of curiosity, what do you use for bait. I have 12 Bait Traps set out. Nine (9) are Flat Bottom and three (3) are Slotted Pan Type. All of these are "Live type". All are within ten (10) miles of my home. I also have three (3) Pheromone Traps in close proximity to each Bait Trap. I attempt to mount everything I collect, unless it is something for others. It takes some effort to maintain and service each trap. I also get some interesting Long Horn Beetles, hornets/wasps, and some strange Fly's. I have found small birds, an occasional mouse and even toads/frogs. I only take Lepidoptera, anything else I take is for others. Everything I kill from Bait Traps has a home, mine or someone with an interest. While living in Virginia an associate (Dipterist) ask me to keep all the fly's I collected from my Bait Traps for him. Several weeks past and he returned to pick up his Fly's. Almost three gallons worth. Never heard or saw him again, not even a thank you. When I lived in Huntsburg, Ohio I had a 1/2 acre pond in front of the house. My two son's stocked it with fish. The fish were well fed from my traps. I even put a yard tractor into that pond once upon a time, but that's another story.
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Post by fishnbugz on Jul 4, 2018 3:41:03 GMT -8
I ran 20 traps last night, and had a real good night. My traps are all homemade, last count there were about 30 traps; I made a couple slotted pan type, but they take quite a bit more effort to build than a flat-bottom so most are the simple style flat-bottom. There are some advantages to both style traps, but I can crank out the flat style in about an hour per trap for very little cost, where as the slots alone take most of an hour to cut on the pan traps...
I have fruit trees at home, and more up in South Dakota, so they provide the majority of the bait. Mostly apples and bananas, but I like to use pears, plums, and peaches too when the trees do good. I ferment the bait in bulk and then freeze it until I need it, in a separate "bait" freezer.
I ain't sure what all I got last night yet, I'd guess at least 50 ilia, 2 coccinata, 2 illecta, a few grynea and ultronia, 1 parta, a couple whitneyi, amica, micronympha, minuta, innubens, a couple moon-lined moth. Probably at least 6 amestris but one was ruined. I haven't placed ilia in the "weed"status moth because I gotta drive 30-40 miles to get to the oaks and catch them, so I am still missing some forms in the collection. There are no hickories here, so I generally don't see black underwings. I'm out at night with the traps, and I build the traps so I can grab the bottom and keep everything in. I keep the light off the trap until I'm ready to reach/grab it. If I put the trap high it's a little tougher, and if you shine light into the bottom of the trap the moths often fly through the lit up opening and are gone...But with cattle feedyards and hog confinements common here the flies ruin too many moths if I wait 'til morning to retrieve them. Often by 7 am the traps will already have hundreds of flies.
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Post by jhyatt on Jul 4, 2018 3:57:33 GMT -8
My miserable 2018 Catocala luck oontinues. My one backyard bait trap, a truly ancient flat-bottom made by Leroy, got raided last night. Had just put a fresh batch of particularly promising bait (rotten asian pears and bananas/beer) in it. Found it this morning with 2 of the the screw eyes that hold the bottom to the cylinder unattached, and the pan on the ground licked cleaner than I could have gotten it with a brillo pad!
What varmint can unhook the connectors on a trap, Leroy? Raccoon, I suppose... anyway it was a disappointment. Now I'm out of bait and it will take days for a new batch to ferment. Guess I need to start freezing the stuff after, not before, fermentation!
jh
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