Moth Watch at the Museum of Life and Science
Last Saturday, the Museum of Life and Science, in partnership with the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association, hosted a public moth night on the museum grounds. I helped to organize this event, and was joined by NCBP members Carol Tingley and Tom Howard. The event was in conjunction with the 2023 Durham BioBlitz, and attendees were encouraged to submit their sightings through iNaturalist.
Rich Teper was a great help for making the event possible, showing up two hours early to assist with setup, and bringing a lot of his own equipment. For past moth night events at the museum, we had set up a single sheet, but this time we decided to go all out, setting up four sheets in three different locations. We had a pretty good turnout, both in terms of people and insects. Among the highlights were the Luna Moth (Actias luna) and Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus), which unfortunately showed up after everyone had left.
Other sightings included:
- Skiff Moth (Prolimacodes badia)
- Firefly larva (genus Phausis)
- Red-bordered Emerald (Nemoria lixaria)
- Agreeable Tiger Moth (Spilosoma congrua)
- Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea)
- Glowworm beetle (genus Phengodes)
- Oak Leafshredder (Acleris semipurpurana)
- Early Button Slug Moth (Tortricidia testacea)
- Xestocephalus provancheri - only the second North Carolina record for this hopper, confirmed by Kyle Kittelberger
- Greater Black Letter Dart (Xestia dolosa)
- Grape Leaffolder (Desmia funeralis)
- One-spotted Variant (Hypagyrtis unipunctata)
- Blurry Chocolate Angle (Macaria transitaria)
- Dark Fan-foot (Zanclognatha obscuripennis)
- Ambiguous Moth (Lascoria ambigualis)
- Faint-spotted Palthis (Palthis asopialis)
- Bird Nest Moth (Monopis crocicapitella)
- Hackberry Leafroller (Sciota celtidella)
- Many-spotted Dichomeris (Dichomeris punctipennella)
- Oblique-banded Leafroller (Choristoneura rosaceana)
- Coleotechnites Flower Moth (Coleotechnites florae)
- Bicolored Ecdytolopha (Ecdytolopha mana)
- Sycamore Leaffolder (Ancylis platatana)
- Reddish Ephestiodes (Ephestiodes infimella)
- Garden Tortrix (Clepsis peritana)