Day 22 #artAdventCalendar my bee (and other pollinator) propaganda I made for Manufactured Ecosystems. Thinking about the future of pollination and seeking solutions from technological and nature-based knowledge. This is essentially my conclusion: we can aid our beleaguered pollinators with technology but their continued success is vital. 🧵

#linocut #printmaking #sciart #typography #insects #entomology #ecology #pollinators #nativeBees #butterflies #moths #manufacturedEcosystems #mastoArt

Day 22 #artAdventCalendar my bee (and other pollinator) propaganda I made for Manufactured Ecosystems. Thinking about the future of pollination and seeking solutions from technological and nature-based knowledge. This is essentially my conclusion: we can aid our beleaguered pollinators with technology but their continued success is vital. 🧵

#linocut #printmaking #sciart #typography #insects #entomology #ecology #pollinators #nativeBees #butterflies #moths #manufacturedEcosystems #mastoArt

Tu dieta puede salvarte la vida, incluso cuando tienes una alimentación tóxica. Es lo que le ocurre a la polilla Chrysocale principalis, que avisa con su aposematismo de sus colores iridiscentes.📷Ricardo Arredondo T. #insectos #insects #Lepidoptera #polillas #moths

Tu dieta puede salvarte la vida, incluso cuando tienes una alimentación tóxica. Es lo que le ocurre a la polilla Chrysocale principalis, que avisa con su aposematismo de sus colores iridiscentes.📷Ricardo Arredondo T. #insectos #insects #Lepidoptera #polillas #moths

Look! Cinnabar moth!

Last summer I was surprised to find cinnabar moth caterpillars feeding on the native pahokoraka, Senecio quadridentatus, in the middle of Christchurch city, NZ. Cinnabar moths were released to control the European pasture weed ragwort back in the 1940s.

I collected four caterpillars and fed them on pahokoraka leaves until they pupated on 16 January. I put them on some scrunched up newsprint in a plastic container and put that outside in a shaded area of our garden. Today, three adult moths emerged.

They're day-flying moths which retain the poisons of their host plants and advertise that to would-be predators with their bright colours,

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/328816568

#mothodon #moths #nz #Christchurch #BiologicalControl

I'm thinking more about the life cycle of these cinnabar moths. It's quite remarkable. The eggs get laid late spring and take about 2 weeks to hatch. The caterpillars eat for about a month through the summer. They then pupate, and wait.

And wait.

And wait.

They wait through all of Autumn and Winter and early Spring.

Then, the adult moths emerge to mate and lay eggs and the cycle starts again.

They're dormant as pupae for about 10 months of every year!

https://digitallibrary.landcareresearch.co.nz/digital/api/collection/p20022coll21/id/41/download

#moths #mothodon #CinnabarMoth

Look! Cinnabar moth!

Last summer I was surprised to find cinnabar moth caterpillars feeding on the native pahokoraka, Senecio quadridentatus, in the middle of Christchurch city, NZ. Cinnabar moths were released to control the European pasture weed ragwort back in the 1940s.

I collected four caterpillars and fed them on pahokoraka leaves until they pupated on 16 January. I put them on some scrunched up newsprint in a plastic container and put that outside in a shaded area of our garden. Today, three adult moths emerged.

They're day-flying moths which retain the poisons of their host plants and advertise that to would-be predators with their bright colours,

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/328816568

#mothodon #moths #nz #Christchurch #BiologicalControl

@Adrenochrome

Sizing it up

Note: it does not bark.

animalia-life.club

#photography
#moths

@Adrenochrome

A closer look

#photography
#moths

Depending on your German regional dialect, this moth is known as the "totenkopf" butterfly... translated (death's head) or (skull)( and crossbones).

The moth has long been associated with death and the supernatural in folklore, art, and literature due to the marking and its ability to produce an audible squeak when disturbed.

It was notably featured in the movie The Silence of the Lambs!

@UltraDane #globalmuseum #moths #insects

OK. Four more moths. These are the four species that were new to our garden this spring.

I've been consistently putting out the moth light four nights every season since July 2021 and I'm still finding new species.

Blackheaded Leafroller, *Ctenopseustis obliquana*: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/324798689

Golden-brown Fern Moth, *Musotima nitidalis*: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/324611764

*Tingena melinella*: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/324798772

Golden-brown Fern Moth *Musotima nitidalis*: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/324611764

They're all native moths. Welcome to our garden.

#mothodon #moths #Lepdidoptera #entomology #insects #nz

OK. Four more moths. These are the four species that were new to our garden this spring.

I've been consistently putting out the moth light four nights every season since July 2021 and I'm still finding new species.

Blackheaded Leafroller, *Ctenopseustis obliquana*: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/324798689

Golden-brown Fern Moth, *Musotima nitidalis*: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/324611764

*Tingena melinella*: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/324798772

Golden-brown Fern Moth *Musotima nitidalis*: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/324611764

They're all native moths. Welcome to our garden.

#mothodon #moths #Lepdidoptera #entomology #insects #nz

Wait, I've got more moths! (Yes, it's your lucky day.)

(Species names are in the alt-text)

#moths #mothodon #nz #Christchurch

The #AutomatedMothTrap outside my house in #Canberra had been offline for a couple of weeks, because it was crashing each night. It's fixed now, and the #moths are getting much more prominent as the weather warms up here.

https://amt.hobern.net/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dhobern/albums/72177720322426621

The problem was in the power supply to the #RaspberryPi controller. I built it using the variable voltage DC-DC Buck Converters shown here. They are cheap and easy to use, but their efficiency (or at least the output voltage) drifts downwards over time. The one powering the RPi had dropped to 4.7V. When the lights were turned on - and I assume when additionally everything in the box got warmer - efficiency was dropping a little further and the RPi simply shut down. It's now running at around 5.2V and remained stable all last night - montage of images attached.

The small moth is only the second example I've seen here of the oecophorid Cirromitra tetratherma. It turned up sometime after 03:00 this morning.

https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/324612528

#entomology #Lepidoptera

The #AutomatedMothTrap outside my house in #Canberra had been offline for a couple of weeks, because it was crashing each night. It's fixed now, and the #moths are getting much more prominent as the weather warms up here.

https://amt.hobern.net/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dhobern/albums/72177720322426621

The problem was in the power supply to the #RaspberryPi controller. I built it using the variable voltage DC-DC Buck Converters shown here. They are cheap and easy to use, but their efficiency (or at least the output voltage) drifts downwards over time. The one powering the RPi had dropped to 4.7V. When the lights were turned on - and I assume when additionally everything in the box got warmer - efficiency was dropping a little further and the RPi simply shut down. It's now running at around 5.2V and remained stable all last night - montage of images attached.

The small moth is only the second example I've seen here of the oecophorid Cirromitra tetratherma. It turned up sometime after 03:00 this morning.

https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/324612528

#entomology #Lepidoptera

This day flying moth on lantana has an almost unbelievable abstract art colouration. It is a Rattlebox, not sure of species. Quite large. 13-14mm.

#moths #andalusia

#MothOfTheDay is a stunner.

You may recognise it from my profile pic, but one came to visit the #moth box last night. The gloriously beautiful #green and black mosaic of:

MERVEILLE DU JOUR
Griposia aprilina

Larvae feed on oak.

One of my absolute favourite moths of the year.

#moths #moth #mothsandbutterflies #butterflies #MothsMatter #nature #naturalworld #wildlife #britishwildlife #lepidoptera #entomology #insect #cute #garden #autumn #october #conservation #biodiversity #alttext

For my first “real” post I’d like to share this absolutely INCREDIBLE moth I found on campus a few days back. This is *Cosmosoma myrodora*, the Scarlet Bodied Wasp Moth. This striking moth is native to the southeastern US and is named because its appearance is believed to be mimicry of wasps— If I had to guess, likely a Polistidae species. This moth is a tiger moth (Arctiini) in the family Erebidae, much like the Salt Marsh Moth (*Estigmine acrea*) that is also native to Galveston, though I don’t think anyone is at high risk of confusing the two as they look very different. *C. myrodora* larva feed on *Mikania* genus plants called hempvines. Unless I’m mistaken, there’s an absolutely massive hempvine by the parking lot on campus. Maybe I’ll pop over there and see if I can find some larvae or pupae.

Sources:
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/217647-Cosmosoma-myrodora

https://www.lsuagcenter.com/~/media/system/3/f/5/c/3f5cfb9d3e2ea5c70320e1f7b390218b/3740%20scarlet%20bodied%20wasp%20mothpdf.pdf

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN996

#insect #insects #moth #moths #nature #bugs #photo #texas #scicomm #entomology