Yellow-striped Armyworm Moth
This looks like the Yellow-striped Armyworm (Spodoptera ornithogalli) moth featuring a delightfully intricate and attractive pattern on those wings. There are shapes, lines, blurry patches and designs within designs. This late August sighting knew how to show off its subtle beauty.
Read MoreExplicit Arches
While I have not posted too many moths lately, I have kept on mothing, as a young Roger Tory Peterson did, throughout the summer. It is time consuming to go through the photos that I take of what I find at my lights, especially when trying to identify eight or ten or more new species. Every couple of weeks there are different species occurring as flight seasons shift through the year. Some of that identification is going to have to wait for the winter. Nevertheless, I discovered this outrageously cool individual last night that I had to share now. Naturally it was on a shutter on the side of...
Read MoreFour-spotted Yellowneck
This extremely tiny moth seems to be a Four-spotted Yellowneck (Oegoconia quadripuncta). The wingspan of this nocturnal creature is little more than a centimeter! It is a good example of a life form the average person would never know existed if not for a targeted search and some help via mothing lights. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreHorned Spanworm Moth
Here is Nematocampa resistaria, the Horned Spanworm moth…does its appearance remind of you anything? For some reason all I could think of was an ancient and fraying map of sorts from another era, with intricate patterns and carefully crafted lines plotting out unique features all over those wings. Some of these spectacular little moths really make my imagination wander! When you were a child drawing all sorts of seemingly nonexistent creatures with your crayons you may have been closer to reality than you thought. Wrapping your mind around the thousands upon thousands of lifeforms on...
Read MoreBanded vs. Hickory Hairstreaks
It’s been a great year so far for the Banded Hairstreak (Satyrium calanus) says Sean. He can typically walk around right now in favorable areas and find four or five. Recently while out walking at Audubon Greenwich he spotted a Hickory Hairstreak (Satyrium caryaevorus), a difficult hairstreak to find and get a confident identification of in Connecticut. He put together a comparison of the two to help with some of the small diagnostic differences. Photographed by RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser for the Meet Your Neighbours global biodiversity project in Connecticut while on assignment for...
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