• Vermont Naturalists Find Over 370 Species During National Moth Week

    For five bucks at a garage sale and the snip of a wire, this bug zapper (aka moth killer as they really don’t work for biting insects) was changed into a backyard moth light.

    Volunteer naturalists from across Vermont uploaded over 1,200 images of moths comprising more than 370 species during National Moth Week. This year’s count was bolstered by the Montpelier Bioblitz 2018, which kicked off the week. Moth experts Hugh McGuinness, Michael Sabourin, Joanne Russo, and others on the bioblitz team recorded nearly 320 moth species in Montpelier during the first two days. Nearly 130 volunteers added moth observations during the week. The number of species will likely continue to rise as experts pore over the data in coming weeks.

    National Moth Week celebrates the beauty, life cycles, and habitats of moths. Held worldwide during the last full week of July, National Moth Week offers everyone, everywhere a unique opportunity to become a citizen scientist and contribute information about moths. Through partnerships with major online biological data depositories, like the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist, participants help map moth distribution and provide needed information on other life history aspects around the globe.

    The fun doesn’t begin and end with National Moth Week. Here at VCE, with the aid of many volunteers across Vermont, we map moth distribution throughout the year. Since 2013, professional biologists and volunteer naturalists have contributed moth observations to the Vermont Atlas of Life through our iNaturalist project. Many of us turn on special lights in our backyards on summer nights to find hundreds of moths and other insects gathering on white sheets, hunt fields and forest for day-flying moths, and place rotten fruit bait out to attract other moths. Many of these moths can be identified from good photographs (although some are impossible without dissection and examination under a microscope). With today’s amazing digital photography technology, coupled with the newer Peterson’s Field Guide to Northeastern Moths and web sites like iNaturalistBugGuideMoth Photographers Group, or Moths of Eastern North America Facebook Group, moth watching (aka mothing) has become increasingly popular.

    Moth watchers here in Vermont have added nearly 100 new species to the Vermont checklist via the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist and have documented 1,248 species across the state so far. What’s even more amazing is that we’ve recorded over 32,000 observations, which help to understand their phenology, habitat use and range in Vermont like never before.

    Primrose Moth (Schinia florida) / © Bryan Pfeiffer

    Since the 1995 landmark publication Moths and Butterflies of Vermont: A Faunal Checklist, nearly 400 new moth species have been found in Vermont thanks to the tireless efforts of both professional and amateur lepidopterists. Preliminary results show us that there are now over 2,200 species of moths known from Vermont. And, there are likely many more awaiting our discovery.

    We encourage you to add your photographs of moths too. Finding moths can be as simple as finding them flying about during the day or leaving a porch light on and checking it after dark. Serious moth aficionados use special lights and baits to attract them. Check out this short introduction on how to start mothing. Its easy and fun!

    Moth observations by superfamily from the Vermont Atlas of Life iNaturalist project overall (updated to 1/2/2019) and during Moth Week 2018 (July 21-29). Click on any research grade number to see a gallery and listing of all the research grade species for each superfamily at iNaturalist.
    SuperfamilyVAL ObservationsVAL Research Grade SpeciesMoth Week 2018 ObservationsMoth Week 2018 Research Grade Species
    Micropterigoidea (Mandibulate Archaic Moths )0000
    Eriocranioidea (Eriocraniid Moths)0000
    Hepialoide (Ghost Moths and Swift Moths)16251
    Nepticuloidea (Pygmy Leafminer Moths)15542
    Adeloidea (Fairy Moths and Allies)69654
    Tineoidea (Bagworms, Clothes Moths and Allies)1131564
    Gelechioidea (Curved-horn Moths)974727819
    Copromorphoidea (Fruitworm Moths)19300
    Yponomeutoidea (Ermine Moths and Allies)14512153
    Cossoidea (Carpenter, Leopard, Goat, Clearwing Moths & Allies)17111
    Tortricoidea (Leafroller Moths)270018623354
    Zygaenoidea (Flannel, Slug Caterpillar, Leaf Skeletonizer and Allied Moths)33813174
    Pyraloidea (Pyralid and Crambid Snout Moths)396815628257
    Pterophoroidea (Plume Moths)30611241
    Drepanoidea (Hook Tip Moths and Allies)4958276
    Geometroidea (Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths)834818731857
    Mimallonoidea (Sack-bearer Moths)0000
    Bombycoidea (Hawk/Sphinx, Silk, Emperor and Allied Moths)2070385513
    Noctuoidea (Owlet Moths and Allies)16452542938171
    TOTALS:36,0451,2572,008397

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    Comments (2)

    1. Mandi-lee Delancey says:

      So I was just wondering , is it weird that I saw an Atticus atlas moth in Vermont?? I only know that this is what I saw because I visited the cryptozoology museum in Portland Maine while I was on vacation, and they had a specimen of one there that had the name of the month on its display. I’ve been meaning to look it up because when I saw this beautiful, huge monster of a month at the store I work for I thought it was crazy , I’ve never seen a month like this one in my life. So when I saw it at the museum I took a photo of it so I could look it up and when I did , it said that the month is native to Asia. So I’m wondering why is one in Vermont ? Thanks

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