night photography – Page 4 – Not Very Far Away

Cosmopterix fernaldella (in red circle). C. fernaldella measures about 5 to 6 mm long. The larger moth is unidentified for now.

One looks like a positve id: Cosmopterix fernaldella (Fernald’s Cosmopterix Moth). Photos of the other three, Olethreutes glaciana (a leaf-roller moth), Olethreutes permundana (Raspberry Leaf-roller Moth), and Capis curvata (Curved Halter Moth), are little blurry but have sufficient detail I think to make a species determination. O. permundana is the only one I am not completely sure of but it seems to fall within the variation for that species.

A very detailed description of Cosmopterix fernaldella is in The genera Cosmopterix Hübner and Pebobs Hodges in the New World with special attention to the Neotropical fauna (Lepidoptera: Cosmopterigidae) on pages 330 to 332.

The larva of Cosmopterix fernaldella is a leaf miner (feeds on leaf tissue in between the upper and lower surface layers of the leaf) on Carex (sedges, Family Cyperaceae). The leaves of Carex lacustris are mentioned in Insects (Diptera , Coleoptera, Lepidoptera) Reared from Wetland Monocots (Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Typhaceae) in Southern Quebec as a larval host on page 305. The US range of Cosmopterix fernaldella is from Maine to the Lower Peninsula of Michigan south to New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and as far west as Wisconsin and Minnesota. In Canada it ranges from Quebec to Ontario and British Columbia. Range map at Moth Photographers Group.

Cosmopterix fernaldella is in the Superfamily Gelechioidea, Family Cosmopterigidae, Subfamily Cosmopteriginae.

Olethreutes glaciana larvae feed on maple (Acer), birch (Betula), and cottonwood (Populus). Range map at Moth Photographers Group.

Olethreutes permundana larvae feed on a variety of plant species from many families including meadowsweet (Spiraea salicifolia), ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius), staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina), hazel (Corylus), sweetgale (Myrica), and hickory (Carya). Range map at Moth Photographers Group.

Ancylis albacostana larvae feed on maple (Acer). Range map at Moth Photographers Group. EDIT (04-13-2018): And a correction. After finding more photos of this moth in my files and going through the Plate Series at the Moth Photographers Group I think it is really Capis curvata. Larvae of C. curvata probably feed on sedges. Well, there is always this summer to find Ancylis albacostana.

Olethreutes glaciana and O. permundana are in the Superfamily Tortricoidea, Family Tortricidae, Subfamily Olethreutinae, Tribe Olethreutini and C. curvata is in the Family Noctuidae, Subfamily Eustrotiinae.

Update on Eucosma (Pelochrista) dorsisgnatana and E. (Pelochrista) similiana: I found a few photos of the latter in my August files and have added its name back to the checklist which stands at 158 species now. I knew I’d seen E. (Pelochrista) similiana before. Both species are shown below.

Both species are in the Superfamily Tortricoidea, Family Tortricidae, Subfamily Olethreutinae, Tribe Eucosmini. Recent taxonomic revisions now place many species once in Eucosma into Pelochrista. Larvae of both species feed on the roots of goldenrod (Solidago). Range maps for E. dorsisignatana and E. similiana can be found at the Moth Photographers Group.

SOURCES

D. Beadle and S. Leckie (2012). Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, Boston. 640 pages.

F. Beaulieu and T. A. Wheeler (2002). Insects (Diptera , Coleoptera, Lepidoptera) Reared from Wetland Monocots (Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Typhaceae) in Southern Quebec. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. Volume 104, No. 2, pages 300 to 308.

J. C. Koster (2010). The genera Cosmopterix Hübner and Pebobs Hodges in the New World with special attention to the Neotropical fauna (Lepidoptera: Cosmopterigidae). Zoologische Mededelingen, 84 (2010), pages 251 to 575.

Bug Guide website

Moth Photographers Group website

Catacola concumbens

Herpetogramma thestealis

Cingilia catenaria

Xanthia tatago

So I’m wondering how to begin this new blog and have decided to write a little bit about my mothing adventure last summer. It all began one morning in June when my Canon Rebel camera broke and I was left with just my Samsung cell phone and its camera. Up until that point I had not used the cell phone camera much and what I had taken with it was not that good. Now, with my favorite camera broken and short on funds for repairs or a replacement I had to learn to use the cell phone. I decided to photograph the moths that came to the porch light at night to learn more about the cell phone camera.

A few nights a week as sunset approached I would turn on the porch light. When it got dark I would carefully open the door and look around the light to see what had flown in. I was seldom disappointed. Warm humid nights were the best for moths. As the weeks went on it became apparent that there was a progression of moth species. Different moths have different flight times and very few will be seen all summer. And moths aren’t the only things attracted to the lights. Beetles, harvestmen, thrips, caddisflies, midges, and leaf hoppers all came to the light. I’m sure the harvestmen were hunting for small insects although they seem willing to eat anything. One was tasting a mix of molasses and overripe fruit I put out to attract moths.

Arctia cajas_014312A — *Arctia caja*, seen one night (August 1) and not again. It is one of the tiger moths.

I keep a list of the various plants and animals on my property adding to it whenever I find a new species. When I began my mothing project I had documented about 30 species or about two species a year. When the summer ended I had added another 102 moth species and many more unidentified but saved as photos. During my moth adventure last summer I found three sources extremely helpful for identifying moths. The first one is the Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America by David Beadle and Seabrooke Leckie. The other two are the BugGuide website and the Moth Photographers Group website. And now I have found another source to consult: Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA).