Category: Taxonomy
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Pseudobryomima muscosa
It’s satisfying that after 8 years of actively observing moths at my home, I still see new species. When I got back from my trip to Golden last Saturday I set up traps to see which of the locals had returned. In the morning I found a particularly perplexing little Noctuid which I’d never seen…
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Platyedra subcinerea
Picked up my fourth lep lifer of the year this afternoon: a Platyedra subcinerea, or “Cotton Stem moth”. Or as my wife would say: “yet another boring brown moth”. It was wedged in under the fold of one of my moths sheets. Very pretty shade of brown, if you ask me, and those black marks…
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Two new Eupithecia
The great warming continues. Each day brings more insects out. The last couple of weeks has added two new Eupithecia to my list. They’re a tricky genus. There are dozens in BC, and many are very hard to tell apart. Well, let’s add a couple more. The first, Eupithecia maestoso, looked sufficiently different from any…
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Pheromone lures
I thought I’d make a quick post about moth pheromone lures. My experience is limited but perhaps it may be of use to some people. I’ve been setting up light traps and sheets for about 6 years, but this year I thought I’d focus on diurnal species and try lures as a complement to the…
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Clearwings!
At long last my pheromone traps paid off, yielding no less than 4 individuals this afternoon: 3 Albuna pyramidalis (fireweed clearwing moth) and a lone Synanthedon novaroensis (Douglas-fir pitch moth). Frankly I’m so relieved. I ordered the lures back in January and I’ve tried them out here and there – no luck. I even wrote…
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Creston highlights
The last post was about the four superstars I saw on my recent month-long trip to Creston, but the following were my real highlights. Lasionycta When I fed my first observation of this genus into iNat I was shocked to see there were 16 – sixteen!? – of these species already spotted in BC. I’d…
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New potential additions to the BC Checklist
As per my last post, I spent June in Creston BC looking for new leps. During that time I saw four new potential candidates for the BC Checklist. Some were far, far out of range, but were pretty distinctive and I’m cautiously optimistic they can be ID’d by photo alone. We’ll see! I’ll include the…
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Egira simplex/crucialis
Continuing with the subject of early year moths, the Egira genus shares the same Orthosiini tribe as Orthosia. I’ve often struggled to tell simplex and crucialis apart for specific individuals. Egira crucialis Egira simplex Both are spring moths, showing up around the same time, flying Mar-June. So what traits are diagnostic? Perhaps 9 times out…
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Orthosia
Orthosia are a common genus of noctuid found worldwide with over 50 species, 9 of which have been recorded here in BC. They’re one of the earliest noctuids I see here on Bowen Island each year, and after the moth-bereft winter months it’s always a joy to see them again. This year (2024) was no…
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Ethmia
This’ll probably be one of the final posts for a while. I’m heading to West Africa in under 3 weeks and I need to spend my time swotting up on the birds – and fixing the house! Like a lot of North America, we got hit by an intense cold wave which for us meant…
BC Moths 