Sept. 6, 2015 - Beautiful Moths
Read MoreMost North American moths are night creatures so people rarely get to see them. Many moths are attracted to light. At our home in northern Minnesota, I sometimes turn on the porch light at night and photograph the more spectacular moths that show up. Here are some that I’ve seen this summer.
This is a Common Lytrosis, found all across the eastern United States. Our home is at the northern edge of its range. It has a 2-inch wingspan. With the brown bark-like pattern on its wings, this moth would be very difficult to spot if it was perched on a tree.The wings of the Bold-feathered Grass Moth give off an iridescent shine. It’s a fairly small moth with a wing span of just over 1 inch.
GrassMothBoldfeatheredHerpetogrammapertextalisDunningLakeBobey20150717
What is a Wooly Bear caterpillar doing in a group of moth photos? Well, in the next stage of its life, it becomes an Isabella Tiger moth (see next photo). Folklore tells us that the Wooly Bear can predict the severity of the coming winter. Supposedly, if the center reddish section of the caterpillar is long, it will be a mild winter. If the reddish section is short, it will be a severe winter. Sorry to burst the Wooly Bear’s bubble, but that just doesn’t hold true. First of all, the same batch of eggs can produce caterpillars with reddish sections of varying lengths. Secondly, as the Wooly Bear gets older, the reddish section expands farther into both of the black sections. So, your winter prediction would be influenced by which Wooly Bear you were seeing and by how old it was. That would produce a track record no better than the predictions of weather forecasters.
MothisabellaTigerWoollybearPyrrharctiaDunningLakeItascaCounty20150903
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