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| Mexican Agapema, Agapema Anona. 15 Oct. 2014 by Charlie Sansom. Marathon/Brewster Co., TX. |
Blogging from Marathon, TX about birding, butterflies, moths and more. Exploring the gems of Brewster County, Post Park, Big Bend National Park and the surrounding region. Bird watching: Big Bend and beyond!
Showing posts with label moths. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moths. Show all posts
Sunday, October 26, 2014
tis the season: Agapema Anona
A belated post - Charlie Sansom photographed this Mexican Agapema, Agapema Anona, reportedly one of several, on October 15th. Perfect timing for these beauties, who grace west Texas with their presence squarely in the middle of October every year (based on Marathon observations). Timely find and strikingly fresh individual! Such pristine condition...
Friday, August 1, 2014
A bug in the hand is worth...
...an unknown number of bugs in the bush?
This is just a handful (heh... heh...) of the moths that turned up at the lights last night. High humidity and outward facing walls in a canyon of mixed high desert scrub and oaks... well, the results far surpassed my highest expectations and I did a pretty sad job of documenting things (photo quality being the least of my feeble documentation problems, unfortunately).
Really, I just wanted to play with them.
Ye olde, familiar White-lined Sphinx, Hyles lineata. I stopped counting at eight.
Never turn your back on Hubbard's Small Silkmoth, they are fiesty! I just wanted to get that deep watermelon pink of the hindwing somewhere in the post...
Cobubatha spp, for kicks. ID suggestions welcomed! Two or three present overnight.
If not terribly mistaken, this tiny Bigfoot is Euclea incisa - only one was around last night, but two weeks ago the numbers ranged nearly to double digits. It really needs a good common name. Saddleblanket Moth seems a bit unwieldy though. But it is wearing a green blanket...
* Many thanks to Sky Stevens for permission and encouragement with the blacklighting at her place just west of Alpine! Brewster County does snag a few Jeff Davis Co species here!
This is just a handful (heh... heh...) of the moths that turned up at the lights last night. High humidity and outward facing walls in a canyon of mixed high desert scrub and oaks... well, the results far surpassed my highest expectations and I did a pretty sad job of documenting things (photo quality being the least of my feeble documentation problems, unfortunately).
Really, I just wanted to play with them.
Ye olde, familiar White-lined Sphinx, Hyles lineata. I stopped counting at eight.
A stripey comparison with a solitary Vine Sphinx, Eumorpha vitis:
Five-spotted Hawkmoth, is that you? Manduca quinquemaculatus! Easily five were still present this morning.
Falcon Sphinx! Xylophanes falco -- these gems are wrapped in the night sky as caterpillars and that's not much of a metaphor. Two were present.
Pint-sized would be an overstatement for the Walnut Sphinx, Amorpha jugulandis. Population for the night: one.
Now let's jump from our small sphinx to our big silkmoth, Walnut Sphinx, meet Oculea Silkmoth! While some sphinxes can be large, none are quite so bat-like as any of the silkmoths tend to be.
This one, lone, lovely lass was most definitely the highlight of the night - and morning:
Oculea Silkmoth, Antheraea oculea, also called the Western Polyphemus Moth.
iNaturalist has some interesting folks out there, this is most definitely NOT a buckeye!
Never turn your back on Hubbard's Small Silkmoth, they are fiesty! I just wanted to get that deep watermelon pink of the hindwing somewhere in the post...
A bit less showy here, Hubbard's Small Silkmoth, Sphingicampa hubbardi or Syssphinx hubbardi, depending on how technical you want to get. At least four made it to the lights.
Cobubatha spp, for kicks. ID suggestions welcomed! Two or three present overnight.
This has been uber-blogged here before, but one never resists the wiles of Halysidota davisii, Davis's Tussock Moth. There were easily six on the wall!* (and by that, I do include chairs, the ground, and things near the light)
If not terribly mistaken, this tiny Bigfoot is Euclea incisa - only one was around last night, but two weeks ago the numbers ranged nearly to double digits. It really needs a good common name. Saddleblanket Moth seems a bit unwieldy though. But it is wearing a green blanket...
...and darn it if I didn't have this identified a month ago and have magically lost my brain. Black wings, striped butt, nice pants - should be an easy one. Will update with an ID when I get a chance!
*** Nick Block wins the internet for reminding me that Texas Wasp Moth should not be so hard to remember! Horama panthalon even has pants in the name! Now I feel that I should have included pics of the Yellow-collared Scape Moths because at least I knew what they were when I saw them (they look like 'love bugs' in moth form).
* Many thanks to Sky Stevens for permission and encouragement with the blacklighting at her place just west of Alpine! Brewster County does snag a few Jeff Davis Co species here!
Saturday, March 29, 2014
11 hours later...
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| Oculea Silkmoth (Antheraea oculea), male. Marathon, TX 29 March, 2014 |
The intrepid male departed:
Our female remained until dusk.
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| Oculea Silkmoth (Antheraea oculea), female. Marathon, TX 29 March, 2014 |
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| Oculea Silkmoth (Antheraea oculea), female. Marathon, TX 29 March, 2014 |
March Moth Madness
We generally have a very slow start to mothing season - and this year we haven't even technically blacklighted at all - but this morning shocked my socks off!
In January we'd helped a neighbor on the north side of town with some yard work, clearing dead vegetation and shuffling it over to the burn pile. A lump of cocoon had caught my eye (it was in a tangle of chile pequin and unidentifiable vegetation) and I'd tucked it aside for further study. It may or may not have been toted around in the bed of the truck for about a week before I remembered it!
With no suitable place to put it around the house, I propped it in the branches of our pine tree, out of puppy-reach in the yard.
This is what greeted me this morning: Antheraea oculea, the Oculea Silkmoth, apparently also called Western Polyphemus? Check out its range. They feed on oaks and walnuts, neither of which are terribly abundant in these parts.
With the variability among individuals, I was surprised to see just how much markings differ (see Bugguide link way at the top) and even with these two, the richness of color from above was strikingly different between them... at least, for looking like clones from below. Amazing how one cocoon can completely derail a morning!
In January we'd helped a neighbor on the north side of town with some yard work, clearing dead vegetation and shuffling it over to the burn pile. A lump of cocoon had caught my eye (it was in a tangle of chile pequin and unidentifiable vegetation) and I'd tucked it aside for further study. It may or may not have been toted around in the bed of the truck for about a week before I remembered it!
With no suitable place to put it around the house, I propped it in the branches of our pine tree, out of puppy-reach in the yard.
This is what greeted me this morning: Antheraea oculea, the Oculea Silkmoth, apparently also called Western Polyphemus? Check out its range. They feed on oaks and walnuts, neither of which are terribly abundant in these parts.
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| The circle of life, or something. |
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| To add some scale... |
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| My what fuzzy antennae and large eye spots you have! Chestnut tones for the male... |
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| The male, right, is showing a bit of wear. |
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| Fresh wings, small antennae, this is the female. |
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| Pardon the lack of privacy, but WOW those are nice antennae! |
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| Female, rumply-fresh. |
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| Such symmetry! |
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Agapema Are Among Us
Again.
Every Autumn.
October.
October 9th, this year.
**UPDATE EDIT** PM 11 October 2013: Well, do read the whole post before reading this updated blurb. Done? All right. Thank you. I may just keep everything the same down there...
Anyways, the complex of genus Agopema is a mess. You just read it down there.
I am privileged to be acquainted with a few learned and experienced minds when it comes down to the subject of Lepidoptera in the state of Texas and the Southwest. They are above and beyond me, and I am better for them.
I often seek their input. Time and again, after some genuine effort on our part, I/we seek their help on identification and education. They are more than one. They are more than two. An odd number helps my sample size. Well, it can help a stalemate at least.
Our particular area is within a somewhat disjointed area-range of what is being determined Agapema dyari. OR Agapema anona dyari; depending perhaps if you read the Old Testament or read the New Testament as well.
One short discussion/treatment is within the comment section of this post.
See what I mean? As always, thanks for reading. ***
This beautiful bug belongs to family Saturniidae, the New World "Silkmoths."
Male moths generally have antennae that are fanned-out in shape. Some species, like this, are fairly pronounced and evident. This gives this male the ability to detect pheromones given by a female from sizable distances; for some, up to miles away.
A. anona larval hosts in southeastern Arizona are Ziziphus ziziphus and Ceanothus spathulata. (Powell & Opler, 2009)
While I have recently learned of a house in town that has a Zizphus sp., I suspect it Zizphus jujuba and the fruits are quite nice to eat, the plant this moth uses as a larval host in the Marathon Basin is Condalia ericoides.
"Javelina Bush."
Check out a Mexican Agapema cocoon by clicking on this LINK.
This pupa, in this Javelina Bush, is somewhat unique and peculiar. If you read further in that 3-yr-old post you would come to understand.
The cocoon is pretty much a cocoon within a cocoon. Surrounding and separate from the interior cocoon is a mesh, net-like structure. It is quite unique and one must see it in-person to fully smile about it.
In south Brewster County and Presidio County there is also a shrub named Condalia warnockii. The Mexican Agapema caterpillars are quite cool with that plant as well.
Last night, we did not have just this individual.
Another male. Lost an antenna. You remember that old bumper sticker, "$--- happens."
He's lost an antenna and also shows a little wear on his left fore-wing. Our earlier bug is pretty much pristine.
We always tell the kids in our children's programs NOT to grab the moths by the wings. That they can easily lose scales. Additionally, by grabbing at their wings we may inadvertently handicap their flight.
So, instead, we let them crawl up our fingers. Heidi is particularly good at this.
If you want to surf around the blog for pics during certain kids' program outings, click the label "Moths" at the bottom of this post.
Or, you can find the labels in the right-hand sidebar. Click on "moths." They are in there somewhere.
A nice look at the patterning and eye-spots on the underside of the Mexican Agapema's hind-wings.
Since I brought up picking up moths, while briefly alluding to kids' programs, I will go a bit further. At least outside the parameters of getting schoolchildren interested in Lepidoptera.
We aren't avid collectors. Let me say, we do collect. We will collect generally when asked. Asked by research institutions, depending on the project's aim, for example.
Collecting vs. non-collecting has become a touchy subject in the world of butterflies and moths. There is an enthusiastic, and growing, interest in the order Lepidoptera.
In truth, we would not know what we do now, in this particular matter of subject, without the collecting of specimen of butterflies and moths by field biologists and researchers down the years, decades, and centuries.
These days, there are also a whole heck of a lot of quality digital cameras.
As I said, we do collect under specific reasons. Generally when recruited by researchers.
However, this was not one of those times.
Flash popped in the above pic. The agapema in her right hand was in flight, well working on it anyways. The Chalcopasta howardi was seriously in flight. C. howardi is a spectacular little gold and brown moth we are privileged to have out here. It has been a good year for them.
I have got to get off this blog tonight. It's getting late. Ha!. "It's getting late," says the moth-er.
But before I put a metaphorical bow on this picture-heavy post, I should only lightly address something. Barely dip my toe in the pool, at my current energy level.
genus Agapema is a mess. Subspecies may be full and separate species, and species maybe be subspecies. Which was the nominate of what?
It wouldn't have been out of the question to utilize an opportunity with two Agapema anona in hand to whisk them away for mtDNA work-ups and analysis.
It's a discussion for another time, and perhaps another forum.
At our geographic location, and our general elevation and element, it is fairly agreed upon (currently) repeatedly that Heidi and I should be and are in habitat and range of Agapema anona.
Not A. a. dyari, nor A. homogena, nor A. galbina, nor A. solita...
Good night.
Thanks for reading.
Every Autumn.
October.
October 9th, this year.
**UPDATE EDIT** PM 11 October 2013: Well, do read the whole post before reading this updated blurb. Done? All right. Thank you. I may just keep everything the same down there...
Anyways, the complex of genus Agopema is a mess. You just read it down there.
I am privileged to be acquainted with a few learned and experienced minds when it comes down to the subject of Lepidoptera in the state of Texas and the Southwest. They are above and beyond me, and I am better for them.
I often seek their input. Time and again, after some genuine effort on our part, I/we seek their help on identification and education. They are more than one. They are more than two. An odd number helps my sample size. Well, it can help a stalemate at least.
Our particular area is within a somewhat disjointed area-range of what is being determined Agapema dyari. OR Agapema anona dyari; depending perhaps if you read the Old Testament or read the New Testament as well.
One short discussion/treatment is within the comment section of this post.
See what I mean? As always, thanks for reading. ***
 |
| "Mexican Agapema" (Agapema anona) |
Male moths generally have antennae that are fanned-out in shape. Some species, like this, are fairly pronounced and evident. This gives this male the ability to detect pheromones given by a female from sizable distances; for some, up to miles away.
A. anona larval hosts in southeastern Arizona are Ziziphus ziziphus and Ceanothus spathulata. (Powell & Opler, 2009)
While I have recently learned of a house in town that has a Zizphus sp., I suspect it Zizphus jujuba and the fruits are quite nice to eat, the plant this moth uses as a larval host in the Marathon Basin is Condalia ericoides.
"Javelina Bush."
Check out a Mexican Agapema cocoon by clicking on this LINK.
This pupa, in this Javelina Bush, is somewhat unique and peculiar. If you read further in that 3-yr-old post you would come to understand.
The cocoon is pretty much a cocoon within a cocoon. Surrounding and separate from the interior cocoon is a mesh, net-like structure. It is quite unique and one must see it in-person to fully smile about it.
In south Brewster County and Presidio County there is also a shrub named Condalia warnockii. The Mexican Agapema caterpillars are quite cool with that plant as well.
Last night, we did not have just this individual.
Another male. Lost an antenna. You remember that old bumper sticker, "$--- happens."
He's lost an antenna and also shows a little wear on his left fore-wing. Our earlier bug is pretty much pristine.
We always tell the kids in our children's programs NOT to grab the moths by the wings. That they can easily lose scales. Additionally, by grabbing at their wings we may inadvertently handicap their flight.
So, instead, we let them crawl up our fingers. Heidi is particularly good at this.
If you want to surf around the blog for pics during certain kids' program outings, click the label "Moths" at the bottom of this post.
Or, you can find the labels in the right-hand sidebar. Click on "moths." They are in there somewhere.
A nice look at the patterning and eye-spots on the underside of the Mexican Agapema's hind-wings.
Since I brought up picking up moths, while briefly alluding to kids' programs, I will go a bit further. At least outside the parameters of getting schoolchildren interested in Lepidoptera.
We aren't avid collectors. Let me say, we do collect. We will collect generally when asked. Asked by research institutions, depending on the project's aim, for example.
Collecting vs. non-collecting has become a touchy subject in the world of butterflies and moths. There is an enthusiastic, and growing, interest in the order Lepidoptera.
In truth, we would not know what we do now, in this particular matter of subject, without the collecting of specimen of butterflies and moths by field biologists and researchers down the years, decades, and centuries.
These days, there are also a whole heck of a lot of quality digital cameras.
As I said, we do collect under specific reasons. Generally when recruited by researchers.
However, this was not one of those times.
Flash popped in the above pic. The agapema in her right hand was in flight, well working on it anyways. The Chalcopasta howardi was seriously in flight. C. howardi is a spectacular little gold and brown moth we are privileged to have out here. It has been a good year for them.
I have got to get off this blog tonight. It's getting late. Ha!. "It's getting late," says the moth-er.
But before I put a metaphorical bow on this picture-heavy post, I should only lightly address something. Barely dip my toe in the pool, at my current energy level.
genus Agapema is a mess. Subspecies may be full and separate species, and species maybe be subspecies. Which was the nominate of what?
It wouldn't have been out of the question to utilize an opportunity with two Agapema anona in hand to whisk them away for mtDNA work-ups and analysis.
It's a discussion for another time, and perhaps another forum.
At our geographic location, and our general elevation and element, it is fairly agreed upon (currently) repeatedly that Heidi and I should be and are in habitat and range of Agapema anona.
Not A. a. dyari, nor A. homogena, nor A. galbina, nor A. solita...
Good night.
Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Let the Fall moths begin.
Here are three of the quality species that came to the lights last night (8 October 2013):
P. olvello is a Fall flyer, with unknown larval host plant and a fairly restrictive range. Here is a map taken from North American Moth Photographers Group website:
Last night was also the first sighting of this calender year for us.
In the past we have had singles of this species. Last night we had the pleasure of three freshly flying adults.
Below, another nice species with at least 3 fresh adult flying last night we have had back in September as well:
This equates to another species that not a whole heck of a lot is known about and is always a welcomed sight to the blacklights. For E. papago, the following is also a Moth Photographers Group website range map:
I was able to camera flash the above individual fairly well. They were quite active for a good while. The following photo didn't freeze the wings of a different individual quite as well..
...but a decent look at the underside of a fore-wing and a hind-wing.
A new bug to our lights, perhaps even to the range map of the website I've been linking to, but not to Brewster County (Knudson & Bordelon, 2011) as I have the list I just cited laying next to me:
This species has also been found in locations in south Texas. New bug for us, new bug for the year. Really, who doesn't love a green family Pyralidae (snout moths and what-have-you..)- member moth?
Fall is an excellent time of year in the Big Bend Region of the state of TX. Fall moths can get real interesting as well. It has started off nicely, and there are still some show-stoppers and personal faves we are awaiting.
Come on out to visit our region. There are so many things you can do in Brewster County, even with Big Bend National Park shut down; so many things to do in the region. Don't cancel your trips.
Don't let them think they've won...
Work Cited:
Knudson & Bordelon, 2011. Checklist of Lepidoptera of Big Bend National Park Texas. Texas Lepidoptera Survey
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| Plagiomimicus olvello "Planet Arium Moth" *okay, so we made that common name up a few years back. It has no common name. Call it Tim... if you wish. |
Last night was also the first sighting of this calender year for us.
In the past we have had singles of this species. Last night we had the pleasure of three freshly flying adults.
Below, another nice species with at least 3 fresh adult flying last night we have had back in September as well:
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| Eulithosia papago |
I was able to camera flash the above individual fairly well. They were quite active for a good while. The following photo didn't freeze the wings of a different individual quite as well..
...but a decent look at the underside of a fore-wing and a hind-wing.
A new bug to our lights, perhaps even to the range map of the website I've been linking to, but not to Brewster County (Knudson & Bordelon, 2011) as I have the list I just cited laying next to me:
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| Anemosella obliquata |
This species has also been found in locations in south Texas. New bug for us, new bug for the year. Really, who doesn't love a green family Pyralidae (snout moths and what-have-you..)- member moth?
Fall is an excellent time of year in the Big Bend Region of the state of TX. Fall moths can get real interesting as well. It has started off nicely, and there are still some show-stoppers and personal faves we are awaiting.
Come on out to visit our region. There are so many things you can do in Brewster County, even with Big Bend National Park shut down; so many things to do in the region. Don't cancel your trips.
Don't let them think they've won...
Work Cited:
Knudson & Bordelon, 2011. Checklist of Lepidoptera of Big Bend National Park Texas. Texas Lepidoptera Survey
Monday, July 22, 2013
More from the Mountain Trails Lodge
The teaser bug from our last post? Rustic Sphinx (Manduca rustica). Simply wonderful. It was a new bug for both of us, an early arrival at the lights (a bit before 11 pm) and it stuck around long enough to play 'pass the bug' with pretty much all of the students in the morning!
These photos are from July 11th and 12th; an evening/morning blacklighting session at the Mountain Trails Lodge in Fort Davis, TX. The lodge is on the south side of Fort Davis, so not quite *in* the mountains, but at a high enough elevation to get most of the mountain goodies!
This Seraph Moth (Olceclostera seraphica) was not at our lights, but the kids found it on the window of one of their cabins; they're docile and cooperative and I think everyone was a good sport, especially the moth! One of the cabins even had a Northern Giant Flag Moth the day before, one of the kids took a photo of it and showed it to us; wish it stuck around!
Apotolype brevicrista, a bit darker above, a bit paler below...
Fuzzy, fuzzier... we do love our 'fuzzy yeti' or 'furry yeti' moths - it's a nickname that most folks can remember, and always a crowd pleaser!
The moth above is a Noctuid... further ID pending!
Check out how close the iPad was able to zoom in on the caterpillar... technology may be a love/hate relationship, but if it gets critters investigated, we're loving it! It was a bit hard to see the bugs with so many gadgets vying for front row photos, but it's long term, shareable experience.
...and a handoff...
Above is a plume moth (somewhere in the tribe Pterophorini) - great dry grass camo!
Five-spotted Hawkmoth handoff - Manduca quinquemaculata - is pretty much our most numerous hawkmoth, and frequently most cooperative. At least three were passed around with this group.
Students of the planet; a small section of the larger group. Wonderfully attentive, curious folks.
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