Moths

If you are like us, you are ready for spring! While the weather is starting to warm up, there isn’t much insect activity at this time of year. One insect that is active in the winter is a leaf-mining moth in the genus Rhopobota in the family Tortricidae, the larvae of which are typically leaf-tiers or leaf-rollers. In addition to being active at this time of year, this Rhopobota is of particular interest because it is one of many outstanding mysteries among the leaf-mining micro-moths in North Carolina.

John Petranka and Steve Hall were invited to make a joint presentation at the February 2024 meeting of the New Hope Audubon, entitled “Backyard Moths and Beyond." John discussed lepidopteran origins, various adaptions related to moth scale patterning (e.g., camouflage, startle responses, and warning coloration), the diversity of moth sizes and shape

Steve Hall led a public moth night at Parker Preserve in association with the NC Botanical Garden. Pictured below is a selection of the more than 90 species of moths that were photographed on the sheets by David George, Stephen Dunn, and Jeff Niznik.

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.

The other day, John Petranka and I went to investigate an irruption of moths along the Haw River in Alamance County. We were following a tip that great numbers of Petrophila moths had recently been observed along the banks of the river. What we found was unlike anything I have ever seen.

Over two decades ago, Steve Hall and Bo Sullivan conducted a multi-year survey of sites along the North Carolina coast as part of an effort to assess the impact of spraying to control the spread of the invasive Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar) in the state. One of the sites that they heavily sampled was Carolina Beach State Park. Located south of Wilmington in New Hanover County, the park lies on a narrow strip of land between the Cape Fear River estuary and the ocean.