Moths often languish in the BugLady\u2019s picture files because: A) They can be tough to identify; and B) Most are not notorious enough to have drawn much attention to themselves, so their biographies are hard to find and are more like short stories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three of today\u2019s four moths are in the family Geometridae \u2013 the \u201cearth-measurers\u201d or \u201cloopers\u201d \u2013 so-named for the gait of their caterpillars, the inchworms.\u00a0They are slim, well-camouflaged caterpillars with long abdominal segments, but with fewer and reduced abdominal prolegs (the fleshy, unjointed \u201chelper\u201d legs \u2013 the six real legs are on the thorax). Having one set of prolegs toward the front of the abdomen and one set at the rear leaves them with no visible means of support in the middle, so they \u201cinch\u201d \u2013 move their front end forward and then hike the rear end up to follow it, measuring the earth as they go. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About the Geometrids, Wagner, in\u00a0Caterpillars of Eastern North America,\u00a0says \u201cWhether measured in terms of abundance or biomass, loopers are among the most important forest lepidopterans in Eastern North America. They are an especially important component of the spring caterpillar fauna of deciduous forests, where they are a staple in the diets of many forest-nesting birds<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The NORTHERN PETROPHORA MOTH (Petrophora<\/em>\u00a0subaequaria<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BugLady found this pretty moth in May at a small, acid bog that she frequents.\u00a0 The Northern Petrophora moth is a Northeastern moth that is close to the west edge of its range in Wisconsin.\u00a0Caterpillars<\/a>\u00a0are abroad throughout summer and are\u00a0oligophagous<\/em>\u00a0(they feed on a variety of related plants) – look for them on ferns, including bracken fern.\u00a0The caterpillars have been described as \u201cstrong jumpers.<\/em>\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The COMMON METARRANTHIS (Metarranthis<\/em> hypochraria<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The caterpillars feed in early summer on a number of trees and shrubs, especially in the genus\u00a0Prunus<\/em>\u00a0(cherries, apples, and plums) and are stick mimics,\u00a0but mature caterpillars are hard to find.\u00a0Wagner speculates that they may move down from the leaves onto the trunk or into the litter by day.\u00a0He also says that (of course) \u201cthe taxonomy of the group is in need of review<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0Many adults in this genus fly during the day and they often perch on the ground, cryptic against the fallen leaves.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The THREE-SPOTTED FILLIP (Heterophleps triguttaria<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BugLady found this small (3\/4\u201d wingspan), distinctly-marked moth at the same bog as the Petrophora moth. It\u2019s found throughout the spring and summer in wet woodlands and marshes from Colorado to Ontario to Quebec to North Carolina, and according to the \u201cMoths of North Carolina\u201d page on the NC Parks website, the majority of its other genus members live in India and China.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s monophagous<\/em> – it had long been thought that the caterpillar host plant was maple, but caterpillars that were fed maple leaves in the lab wouldn\u2019t eat them, and it turned out that the caterpillars host is Clearweed, a kind of nettle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So \u2013 what is a \u201cfillip<\/em>?\u201d There are several, very diverse meanings, but an archaic one seems to fit in this context, \u201ca movement made by bending the last joint of the finger against the thumb and suddenly releasing it; a flick of the finger.<\/em>\u201d \u201cTo propel a small object with a flick of the finger<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0\u201cFillip is considered a phonetic imitation of the sharp release of a curled-up finger aimed to strike something.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0And it turns out that, according\u00a0to the NC Parks website, \u201cWhen disturbed the larvae form a tight coil and are known to hurl their frass pellets.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the MORBID OWLET (Chytolita<\/em> morbidalis<\/em>) <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Morbid Owlet is in the family\u00a0Erebidae and the subfamily Herminiinae, the litter moths, some of whose caterpillars feed on live leaves, while others feed on algae, lichens, fungi, dung, decomposing vegetation or insects, organic stuff they find around animal nests. Wagner describes them as lethargic caterpillars that avoid the light and that play dead when bothered.\u00a0Bugguide.net says that \u201cmorbidalis<\/em>\u201d comes from \u201cmorbus<\/em>,\u201d meaning \u201cdisease<\/em>\u201d and probably refers to the \u201csickly pale color<\/em>\u201d of the moth. The \u201csnout\u201d protruding from the head is formed by the \u201clabial palps,\u201d\u00a0which have a sensory function in feeding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Morbid Owlet\u00a0caterpillars eat dead leaves (they\u2019re detritivores) and low vegetation like dandelions.\u00a0Wagner says that \u201cthey flatten the rear of the body in a manner that suggests a false head<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using her\u00a0Peterson Field Guide to the Moths of Northeastern North America, the BugLady originally ID\u2019d this moth as a Stone-winged Owlet Moth (Chytolita petrealis<\/em>), but when she Googled it, it kept coming up as the Morbid Owlet (Chytolita<\/em>\u00a0morbidalis<\/em>). It appears that a recent taxonomic review of the genus (done after her moth book was published) lists\u00a0Chytolita petrealis<\/em>\u00a0as a synonym of\u00a0Chytolita<\/em>\u00a0morbidalis<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 basically, same species – and now the only member of its genus north of the Rio Grande. The Stone-winged Owlet Moth form is said to be smaller and darker than the Morbid Owlet form.\u00a0Bugguide.net, whose account must also have been written before the review, lists the habitat of the Morbid Owlet as \u201cdeciduous woods and edges; generally drier or less boggy habitat than Chytolita petrealis.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not so fast, says the North Carolina Parks\u00a0Chytolita petrealis<\/em>\u00a0page.\u00a0\u201cChytolita petrealis is currently treated by some authorities to be a synonym of morbidalis, following determination that the type of petrealis was a morbidalis. Prior to that realization, however, the name petrealis had been applied to a distinct and much rarer species in the Southeast. The authors who sunk petrealis did not realize this so our petrealis has no name at the moment. To make things more complicated, there is another undescribed thing like it from the mountains (2-3 specimens known) whereas the petrealis that has been most widely recognized is present primarily in the Coastal Plain.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 And, it goes on to say\u00a0\u201cThe majority of our records come from swamp and floodplain forests, forested shorelines, as well as peatlands and other wet forests.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BugLady found it in that same acid bog as the Petrophora and the Fillip moths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fun Fact about the Northern Petrophora Moth:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The species was described by 19th century British entomologist Francis Walker. He published like crazy, shared his knowledge generously, and was respected by many of his peers.\u00a0Between 1848 and 1873, he worked at the monumental task of cataloging the insects in the collection of the British Museum, a task for which he was paid one shilling for each new species he determined and one pound for each new genus (and where he ended up describing 16,000 species).\u00a0Alas, he turned out to be a little careless\/enthusiastic, sometimes assigning multiple different scientific names to specimens of the same species.\u00a0One source said that he was no worse than many other entomologists of his day – imagine doing a job like that without the kinds of communication, magnifying, and imaging tools we have today – but the huge scale he was working on multiplied his errors.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n After his death, an unsigned obituary began \u201cMore than twenty years too late for his scientific reputation, and after having done an amount of injury almost inconceivable in its immensity, Francis Walker has passed from among us<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Brutal!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BugLady<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n Note: All links leave to external site. Greetings, BugFans, Everybody likes butterflies (the BugLady would not like to meet the person who dislikes butterflies). But, in the order Lepidoptera, butterflies are just the tip of the iceberg \u2013 the heavy …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32664,"featured_media":14581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[8],"tags":[607,41,158,759,614,761,79,758,762,760],"class_list":["post-14580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bug-of-the-week","tag-bugs","tag-butterflies","tag-caterpillars","tag-common-metarranthis","tag-insects","tag-morbid-owlet","tag-moths","tag-northern-petophora-moth","tag-stone-winged-owlet-moth","tag-three-spotted-fillip"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"moth](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/01\/n-petrophora-slb23-1rz.webp\")
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