Our annual “Friday Night Under the Lights” Moth Viewing Party celebrating National Moth Week was a success! The people and the moths both showed up for a great evening at Sylvan Solace Preserve. We ended up with 147 total observations on iNaturalist by staff and participants. Of these records, 59 unique species were observed with 46 being identified (to the best of our ability!) down to species and the remaining down to varying taxonomic rankings that range from subfamily to genus.
Participants wasted no time snapping photos as the lights began to draw in our subjects!
The “big guys” may have eluded us once again. What can we say? Giant silkworm moth phenology and the national holiday don’t jive in our neck of the woods! However, diversity was not disappointing. We nearly doubled unique species compared to last years event at Hall’s Lake Natural Area. For a recap see our blog post here. While most of these moths were relatively slight in size, many were show-stoppers in their own right!
Take Haploa clymene for example. This member of the tiger moth subfamily earned many oohs and ahhs from the moth paparazzi. Who knew they were hiding that bright orange under those monochrome wings?!
The Painted Lichen Moth, Hypoprepia fucosa, is always a crowd favorite! The bright colors that wow us humans serve as a warning to discourage would-be predators. Their common names is a result of the larval food staple: lichen. They also have been documented consuming algae and moss on trees.
Speaking of similar coloration, we had a Common Eastern Firefly, Photinus pyralis, visit the sheet as many other fireflies showcased a glowing dance throughout the surrounding forest. The most dramatic part of the event happened right as the event began. Dusk set in and the fireflies appeared… Almost immediately, a dragonfly flew right in front of us and devoured a firefly before our eyes!
The most observed species was the Bent-line Carpet, Costaconvexa centrostrigaria (pictured below). This modest moth with white to brown colorations measures in at just over 2 cm. The caterpillar of this species feeds on plants in the genus Polygonum (knotweeds and smartweeds).
Some of the other more visibly interesting species we found:
To see all the observations uploaded to iNaturalist from the event, follow this link!
