From the Field: Blinded Sphinx Moth

This Blinded Sphinx Moth showed up on a window at work. Moths a fascinating creatures. Sphinx moths in particular have pretty awesome looking caterpillars too. Keep your eyes open for cool moths. Now is a great time to look out at the walls near porch lights in the evenings for some gorgeous and surprising discoveries. 

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Unknown Lappet Moth Caterpillar

While teaching this week we discovered this gray caterpillar with red spots at lunch time. I did some internet sluthing to try to figure out what it is. We have a good collection of moth ID books at work but they are woefully inadequate when it comes to caterpillars.

Here's the suspect.

You can see the feature that stands out right away are the two red areas between the segments nearest the head. They show up even clearer in this next shot.
You can also see there are quite a lot of hairs but it is not covered in hairs like a wooly-bear and they aren't crazy hairs like a tussock moth caterpillar. Here's a few more shots.






I did not get a good shot of the underside but it was mostly black with some small yellow specks on it. After doing my online research I am for sure comfortable calling this to the genus level as a Phyllodesma sp. There are photos out there for Phyllodesma americana, the American Lappet Moth but this seems slightly different. Best I can gather there is some disagreement over various sub-species or full species of Phyllodesma moths. If the experts don't agree then I'm staying out of it. Lappet Moth caterpillar is good enough for me.

The best resource online for identifying these is the online community BugGuide.net. You can post up photos and naturalists from around the world will help you with your ID. Here are some photos of similar or even seemingly identical Phyllodesma caterpillars I was able to find online.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/367529
http://bugguide.net/node/view/328010
http://bugguide.net/node/view/111823

~Kirk

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The Chickweed Geometer

In my never ending quest for knowledge I just had to know what this little moth was that showed up this week on my screen door. Reaching for a field guide I found it is a Chickweed Geometer, Haematopis grataria. It can be identified by the orange or yellow wings with pink stripes and discal spots. You should click on the photo for the large version to check out the funky antennae.


According to A Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America by Charles V. Covell Jr. it feeds on chickweed, clovers, knotweed, smartweeds and other low plants. For those of you that actually click that link, yes, copies of this small field guide sell for about $50! Supply and demand I guess.

~Kirk

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Moths in the Maple Sap

Every year when it comes time to tap the maple trees I love spending time outdoors. The world is waking up from winter. We hear the first sandhill cranes, the red-shouldered hawks are prowling the woods and calling out on territory. The red-bellied woodpeckers are territorial drumming and making nest holes. This is also when we find the first moths of the year. Every morning we find moths in the sap bags. They can't resist the sweet sap of the maple trees. Some drown but many survive.

This year I decided to find out what species of moth it is that we see every year. I took the above photo earlier this week. It appears to be Straight-toothed Sallow (Eupsilia vinulenta). Though, there are a few very similar species that can only be distinguished under a microscope. I originally had no idea what this moth was. I'm not really an insect guy. I figured it out by discovering a photo of the very similar European species The Satellite (Eupsilia transversa).

The name the Satellite comes from the little spots that seem to orbit like satellites around the larger spot on the fore wings. What a cool name! It is much cooler than "Straight-toothed Sallow."

North American Satellite Moth anyone?

~Kirk

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Sphinx Moth Caterpillar

I took a break today at work and got outside for a short hike to stretch my legs and enjoy the beautiful weather. The only active birds were a flock of Blue Jays calling back and forth with some fun vocalizations. The trees were starting to change color and the first fallen leaves of the year crunched underfoot. There is one thing I'm happy didn't go crunch underfoot however. I happened upon this beautiful and large Sphinx moth caterpillar. I had my phone with me so I shot some photos and video. It was a beautiful green with black and yellow slash marks along the sides. The head is on the left in this photo.


Check out the "horn" on the tail! These are sometimes called "Horntails" because of that (harmless) appendage.


Here's the video I shot of the caterpillar crossing the trail.

My best guess is that it is a Laural Sphinx Moth Sphinx kalmiae. The tail is blue with black markings. This one was close to four inches long and as big around as my finger! I'm doing an overnight program this weekend so I'll have to keep my eyes open for the adult stage of this moth. Even though this is called the Laurel Sphinx and they do eat Laurel, the most likely food it would eat at the nature center is poplar. Being so late in the year this is likely from the second brood of the year. It will likely pupate and overwinter. If it survives, we'll have a Laurel Sphinx moth flying around in the woods.

~Kirk

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