Virginia Creeper Sphinx (7885)

Darapsa myron

Family Sphingidae

Photograph copyright by Tony Leukering

28 May 2012

Lake Nummy, Belleplain State Forest

CMMP block F08
Distribution map

The sphinx family has always been one of my favorite moth groups, for a variety of reasons. The primary reason may be that, for moths, their jet-fighter wing shape and stout bodies make them easily discernible in the field. Despite this stereotypical sphingid shape, there is quite a bit of variation within the family, in size, color pattern, posture, and feeding habits. The family even boasts a relatively substantial number of day-flying species, particularly the clear-winged species that act as hummingbirds and are often mistaken as such by laymen.

As this post's subject species' primary host plant -- amazingly enough, Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) -- is so common and widespread, so is the species. Though Virginia Creeper Sphinx comes in a variety of colors, the pattern of color is fairly consistent, and the white shoulder braids make for an excellent first clue to identity.

Southern Flannel (4647)

Megalopyge (Lagoa) opercularis

Family Megalopygidae

Photograph copyright by Tony Leukering

17 June 2012

near Green Creek

CMMP block Q06
Distribution map

Though I have already treated a very close cousin of this post's subject, there are two reasons that I return to the Megalopygidae's type genus. The first is because these things are just too darned cute! I'll get to the second shortly. The other night I was sitting around in my house and got a wild hare to go check lighted signs for moths, because I did not feel like driving all the way up to Belleplain State Forest, my usual mothing destination. I also wanted to spread my effort around the county, as Mike Crewe and I are attempting to do an extensive atlas or mapping project for the county. So, I drove to Cape May Court House and back, visiting a bunch of lighted signs, some of which had few moths and none of which had anything like overwhelming numbers of moths.

I found this flannel at my very first stop, the King Nummy Campground along Hwy 47. In fact, it was the first moth that I photographed that night! Because I had recorded no moth species for the block (Q06), I photographed it to remind me to record it. And, of course, because flannels are just too darned cute! Upon going through my pictures at home the next morning, I noticed that the beast did not look quite like Black-waved Flannel, which is the only species of such that I had identified here. The color on the upper part of the wings was darker, ruddier, with a distinct yellow semi-collar. The pattern near the wing margins was also not quite right. Finally, it has much more extensive black on the legs than does Black-waved. I knew that Southern Flannel's range got into Maryland, but I didn't think that the species reached New Jersey. So, I checked the MPG site and, yowzer (!), that was the correct ID and the species was unknown from north and east of Maryland! Woo-hoo, first state record!

Of course, when mothing, it's fairly easy to find first state records, because we know them so poorly. Mike Crewe has garnered a host of first NJ moth records, but this was the first that I'd found, that I knew of. Recently, though, I have been checking the MPG site more for occurrence data than solely for ID help, and note that my extensive set of moth pictures from this spring includes quite a number of "first" NJ records (though Mike has, undoubtedly, already scored a few of those). But, hey, flannels are cute and this one was my first state first, hence the blog post.

News Flash Addendum!

Mike Crewe and I independently found Southern Flannels much farther north in the county, both finding them at the Belleplain State Forest HQ (block F09), Mike with six there on 24 June, and I found five there on 25 June (pic below). I may have to go look for the species in Cumberland and/or Atlantic counties!

Io Moth (7746)

Automeris io

Family Saturniidae (silkworms), subfamily Hemileucinae (buck moths)

Photograph copyright by Tony Leukering

15 June 2012 (male, upper), 17 June 2012 (female), 13 June 2012 (male, lower)

Belleplain State Forest HQ

CMMP block F09 (males), S08 (female)
Distribution map

The Io Moth is quite attractive, with its extensive yellow (male) or bronzy-gray to purplish (female) wings and long, furry yellow forelegs. However, this species presents our first example of a particular phenomenon scattered widely through Lepidoptera, particularly among moths, and present in quite a few other orders of insects (and, in fact, even in some vertebrate groups). That phenomenon is the presence of an appearance feature that is startling, with its presumed aim at causing would-be predators a bit of consternation and, thus, to forgo eating the startling individual insect. In quite a few moth species, this startling effect is created by a vague or precise representation of vertebrate eyes, usually one that can be suddenly uncovered. The male Io Moth has both. When at typical rest posture (as above), dark discal patches on the forewings can create the appearance of eyes. However, should a predator ignore that suggestion of a much-larger-and-perhaps-dangerous-to-the-predator animal, the moth flicks spread its forewings to reveal a startlingly strong suggestion of large eyes.

Robin's Carpenterworm (2693)

Prionoxystus robiniae

Family Cossidae (Carpenter and leopard moths), subfamily Cossinae
Photograph copyright by Tony Leukering

13 June 2012

Belleplain State Forest HQ

CMMP block F09
Distribution map

There are microleps that are big and there are macroleps that are small. This one is one of the former, just about the largest microlep illustrated in the new Peterson moth guide, with length reaching 45 mm. This is also yet another beast named for its caterpillar (obviously), which bores into wood of a variety of deciduous trees (ash, chestnut, locust, oak, poplar, willow). In places, various species of carpenterworm can be injurious to cultivated trees (such as fig plantations in California). However, Robin's Carpenterworm is a U. S. native and probably does not become a real pest in native habitats.

As might be expected from its wide variety of food plants, the species seems at least fairly widespread in Cape May County; I have seen it in Belleplain S. F. and at Green Creek. The only ones that I've seen have come to lights so, despite its size, it might be a mite difficult to encounter "in the wild."

Checkered Apogeshna (5177)

Apogeshna stenialis

Family Crambidae, subfamily Pyraustinae
Photograph copyright by Tony Leukering

6 June 2012

Near Mayville

CMMP block R08
Distribution map

This small beast (17 mm wingspan), though strikingly patterned and colored and despite its wide range (Maine s. to Florida and, at least, Illinois s. to Alabama), is very poorly known. The species' page at Bug Guide notes that the habitat is not well known ("Deciduous forests?"); I have encountered it in areas of mostly deciduous forest, dominated by oaks, Sweetgum, Sassafras, and Red Maple, though with some admixture of pine and, of course, the ubiquitous American Holly.


Its life cycle is also unknown. That is, we do not know what its caterpillar looks like, much less what it eats, among nearly all other aspects of its behavior and ecology. The fact that it represents a monotypic genus means that we may not be able to infer much of that unknown life history from congeners, as it has none. In Cape May County, at least, it is not at all rare, as I have seen it in multiple places and on multiple dates. It readily comes to lights and I have also kicked it out of waste places (lots of Haresfoot Clover and a bit of grass) during the day. In fact, one of the individuals that I kicked up is the subject in this post's picture, perched on the underside of a leaf about a foot off the ground (the photo requiring some slow and careful contortions to obtain!). The species joins some 230 other species in North America of the Tribe Spilomelini of the subfamily Pyraustinae of the family Crambidae (the same family that houses the grass-veneers; see Pasture Grass-veneer).

Horned Spanworm (7010)

Nematocampa resistaria

Family Geometridae, subfamily Ennominae
Photograph copyright by Tony Leukering

11 June 2012

Green Creek

CMMP block S07
Distribution map

Last night, some Cape May County nature nuts interested in moths gathered for our first moth party of what will, hopefully, become a regular feature. Tiffany Kersten and Sam Galick hosted it at Steve Bauer's house and we had a grand old time. Tiffany painted a couple of trees (one American Holly, one Pitch Pine) with the usual moth-attracting mixture of over-ripe bananas, brown sugar, and beer, and I set up my black light and sheet on the lee side of the house and waited for our nocturnal lepidopteran friends to arrive. So far, we have worked out the identifications of 32 species of moths, and we still have a lot of photographed moths to ID.

One of the highlights was the above Horned Spanworm, one of the many moth species named for its caterpillar, thus providing me with another opportunity to rant about common names. Some, like our spanworm here, do not have the word "moth" included, while others do -- most inconsistent! Additionally, since they are moths, it seems redundant to insert the word "moth" into any particular species' name. That habit is akin to calling Northern Cardinals "Northern Cardinal Birds." Yes, we understand, it's a bird. Granted, moths are nowhere near as well known as are birds, but I do not believe that should play a part in English nomenclature.

The Horned Spanworm is one of the many local species of the Geometridae, another name derived from the caterpillars, which are often known as "inchworms." While the Geometridae, like most moth families, is varied, a large percentage hold their wings out straight and flat (like many butterflies) when perched. Since very few other moths exhibit this posture, one can start with this family whenever one encounters an unknown moth perched with its wings out like this.

Red-lined Panopoda (8587)

Panopoda rufimargo

Family Erebidae, subfamily Eulepidotinae
Photograph copyright by Tony Leukering

29 May 2012

Near Belleplain

CMMP block E10
Distribution map

The moth family Erebidae is a large and fairly varied one, split into a number of subfamilies, many of which are represented in Cape May County.  A couple of those subfamilies are fairly widely known, even if for only a species or two, such as  Gypsy Moth (subfamily Lymantriinae) and Isabella Tiger Moth (subfamily Arctiinae). While many of us have heard of the former and know of its devastation of local oak forests, most may never have heard of the latter, though they're undoubtedly seen  many of them, at least in the larval form, known as Wooly Bear. But, I have no picture of either moth, so our introduction into the family will be carried by a poorly-known species, the Red-lined Panopoda. Like the subject species, many groups within the Erebidae are delta-shaped as adults -- that is, quite triangular in shape, and nearly equilateral triangular at that, so the family is a good place to start down the ID-process road when encountering such a beast.

However, the primary focus of this essay is common names. As long as there have been moth guides written that were aimed at least partly at the layman, there have been attempts to coin common names for the various species. When some aspect of a particular species' ecology or behavior was known, it was utilized in naming it, as for the "Waterlily Borer" and the "Clover Looper." Due at least in part to our extensive lack of knowledge about life histories and behaviors of most moth species, even in our relatively well-studied part of the world, such name coiners have taken a couple other tacks when traveling that road. One, and the one that I appreciate, is the tack of whimsy, naming species with monikers such as "The Infant," "The Betrothed," and "The Neighbor." However, as for our subject species, for most, they simply translated the latinized term used for the scientific name as directly as they could manage. For many of those, they did not even bother to translate the genus name, simply using it as is for the group name for that/those species of moth(s).

This tack results in a large number of moth species with common or "English" names made of words that are not, in fact, English. With the long-anticipated publication of the new Peterson guide to the moths of northeastern North America, I had hoped that the authors would attempt to avoid that last naming tack, because laymen are generally turned off by such. To no avail. So until someone grabs that bull by the horns, we are stuck with such mouthfuls as "Fernald's Helcystogramma," "Sooty Lipocosmodes," "Crowned Phlyctaenia," and, of course, "Red-lined Panopoda!"