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Photo by Vicki J. Brown.
This year my husband John Pastore (NRS 2022) and I did some backyard “mothing,” which means attracting moths with light at night. Over three nights in July, we photographed and identified 39 moth species. That represents a very small percentage of New Hampshire’s total moth species: The Moth Photographers Group has recorded1,638 NH species, and experts believe moth species number more than 2,000.
Setup is relatively simple: all you need is a white sheet and one or more lights. Here are a few tips:
- Stay out as late as you can! More moths arrive the later you stay out.
- Put your setup in a relatively open area so moths can see the light from far away.
- Enjoy a whole variety of other types of insects at your sheet besides moths, including beetles, crickets, caddisflies and mayflies.
- Skip the phone when taking photos; use a camera with the LED light on for higher quality photos
- Add your photos to iNaturalist using the App or website. You’ll frequently learn the genus; getting to species may not be possible, however.
In addition to identifying dozens of new-to-us moths, we also learned some cool things about nocturnal critters. For instance, did you know:
- Some stinkbugs are predators! We thought they all fed on plants, but we watched a life and death tug-of-war between a stinkbug and a moth. The rather large moth got away by sacrificing one of its six legs.
- Some wasps fly at night! The Enicospilus genus of wasps are large, stingless wasps that look a bit like crane flies due to their size and shape. These night-flying wasps are parasitoids, meaning that they lay their eggs inside other insects to complete their lifecycle.
- Some moths have snouts (the Crambids), some have pearlescent coloration, some have “mullets” or hairy helmets (the Acrolophus genus) and yet others look like miniature fighter jets!
It’s not too late to go out and see some moths. Moths are generally most active in spring and summer. But like butterflies, some moth species will fly in the fall when the weather is warm. Happy mothing!
Resources:
- How to Set Up: Go Mothing
- How to Start Mothing
- How to Lightsheet for Moths
- Peterson Field Guide To Moths Of Northeastern North America (Peterson Field Guides)
- Common Moth Families (a black-and-white 1-page guide by Brigette Zacharczenko)
Here are some examples of what we saw:
Photos by John Pastore (NRS 2017).
Moths in the Acrolophus genus sport a tuft of elongated, hairlike scales and when at rest, sometimes hold their hairy labial palps over their head, giving them a "mullet" or helmet-like appearance. Pictured is a Clemens' grass tubeworm moth (Acrolophus popeanella).
We call this one the “fighter jet” moth. The Dark-spotted Palthis Moth (Palthis angulalis) has distinctive angular wings.
This wasp flies at night and is in the genus Enicospilus, in the family Ichneumonidae. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of caterpillars, sooner or later causing their death.
This Spined Soldier Bug (Podisus maculiventris), a predatory stinkbug, is holding a moth’s leg in its beak, which is thicker than the beak of an herbivorous stinkbug. This species of predatory stinkbug is considered a beneficial insect and is marketed as a pest control agent because it preys on caterpillars and beetle larva.
