This year I spent the month of May up in the Peace River region of our province, staying in an airbnb in Fort St John. Persistent forest fires and frequently unbreathable air notwithstanding, I still saw a glorious array of moths. One of the highlights was this unobtrustive little fella: Acleris clarkei. This was the first observation of the species for BC. Booyah!

Acleris are a large genus of Tortricid¹, known as leafroller or tortrix moths. “Leafroller” because the larvae roll up leaves for housing and shelter. iNaturalist currently lists 25 observed species for the province but the 2015 BC checklist lists a full 44. Wikipedia lists a whopping 241 worldwide, but that’s almost certainly out of date. Big genus!

One of the great joys of mothing compared to, say, birding, is that with a little work a layman like myself can make genuine discoveries like this one. It wasn’t a big surprise, I suppose: the Peace is under-mothed, and this species is already known from Northwestern Alberta, even though iNat currently only logs a very few species – and none west of Ontario. Still, great sighting. It was milling around while I was taking down my light traps for the evening, patiently waiting to be photographed. Thanks, good sir.

I’ve always been partial to this genus. They have a very distinctive shape, like a broad-shouldered mobster in a trenchcoat in a back-alley, poised to pull out a gun. Or maybe that’s just my impression.

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Tortricoidea
Tortricidae, Leafroller moths
Tortricinae
Tortricini
Acleris