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Post by vgashtarov on Dec 8, 2013 22:04:07 GMT -8
Hello all, In this thread I would like to invite people like me - interested in Hepialidae - to discuss these primitive moths, to post photos, share experience and why not to exchange materials.  |
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Post by boghaunter1 on Dec 9, 2013 14:55:21 GMT -8
Hello Ghost Moth collectors, On 12 July 2013, in an M.V. trap in my yd., in NE Sask., CANADA, I discovered a very rare sp. of ghost moth; I have never seen this sp. in 37 yrs. of maintaining traps in my yd. According to a former friend of mine (now deceased), who was connected to the SK Prov. Museum, this moth had only been recorded one time previously, many yrs. ago, in NW SK (not sure of the exact location). The moth is commonly called the Willow Ghost moth, Sthenopis thule & is an eastern N. Am. sp. found uncommonly in southern Ontario & Quebec & in the bordering U.S. northern states. The fact that the moth is in relatively good shape, except for being washed out in color, suggests it was produced locally. According to a discussion I remember having, about 10 yrs. ago, with my former friend, this moth sp. has never been collected in Manitoba, so it is a long, long ways west of it's closest regular range in southern Ontario! Fresh examples of this sp., observed on the internet, are a beautiful, bright yellow with distinctive brown markings on the leading edge of the forewings... a unique & beautiful color combination for a ghost moth. My specimen is a female with a wingspan of 72mm. The Willow Ghost moth's larvae burrow into the roots of willow trees & feed for several yrs. before the adult finally emerges. I would be very interested in hearing from those other collectors, in the east?, who may be familiar with this sp. & can shed a little more light on it's range, habits, flight times, etc. John K.  |
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Post by palaeogama on Dec 9, 2013 18:54:14 GMT -8
This is what I caught so far around Montréal (Quebec).  |
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Post by palaeogama on Dec 9, 2013 18:56:24 GMT -8
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Post by vgashtarov on Dec 10, 2013 10:52:24 GMT -8
This is wonderful selection of ghosts :-)
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Post by vgashtarov on Dec 10, 2013 11:12:31 GMT -8
Korscheltellus lupulina (Linnaeus, 1758) - I found this moth near Sofia, in Lozenska Mts. on 27 May 2010. I have few of this species in my collection all of them collected near Sofia.   |
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Post by homard on Dec 14, 2013 2:54:34 GMT -8
Hello all, In this thread I would like to invite people like me - interested in Hepialidae - to discuss these primitive moths, to post photos, share experience and why not to exchange materials. View Attachment Hello Victor, Glad to see you here. So you've decided to settle on primitive moths after all?  Best regards, Alexei |
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Post by homard on Dec 14, 2013 2:56:09 GMT -8
This is what I caught so far around Montréal (Quebec). Amazing! In my area usually occurs 1-2 species, so I even don't care about them  |
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Post by vgashtarov on Dec 14, 2013 12:00:33 GMT -8
Alexei from Saratov ? Is that you :-) ??
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Post by homard on Dec 15, 2013 0:14:41 GMT -8
Alexei from Saratov ? Is that you :-) ?? Who'd be else?!  |
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Post by nomad on Dec 15, 2013 1:04:02 GMT -8
I have fond memories of seeing ' Ghost Swift moths' Hepialus humuli] for the first time, hovering just above the long grass at the back of my parents house. They seemed like they were suspended on a piece of string. It was quite a sight watching a field of hovering ghostly males and I used to sit and watch them, untill I was called in. I believe unlike most moths, in the Ghost Swift, it is the female who is the active partner, she rushes in and bears the hovering male to the ground where they mate.
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Post by vgashtarov on Dec 15, 2013 1:20:23 GMT -8
What I saw with my eyes - the Triodia adriadicus males are flying just above the ground searching for the female. It flies at dusk and it is easy to spot it. Hepialus humili is a mountain species here, found it sitting on the grass during the day.
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Post by nomad on Dec 15, 2013 4:07:26 GMT -8
Interesting observations. I was talking about the biology of Hepialus humuli not all Hespialidae moths. The adults display is sometimes called ' Lekking. Here is what the Moths of GB [ Paul Waring & Martin Townsend] mentions for this species " The males have a characteristic display or ' lekking ' flight at dusk, which can involve up to a dozen moths, each swaying to and fro over one spot as if attached to a pendulum and releasing a goat-like scent. This attracts the female, which sometimes flies directly at the male, and both fall to the ground. Mating pairs are conspicuous on low vegetation by torchlight." The great L. Hugh Newman observed the behaviour of the Ghost Swift [ Hepialus humuli] in the field, he wrote " The Ghost Swifts had already started their evening flight, the white males swinging backwards and forwards, just above the grass stems as if suspended on invisible threads. Then suddenly a large female would flash out of the gloaming, make straight for one of the hovering males, and in a head-on collision, bear her chosen mate to the earth. The courtship of the Ghost Swift is unique, for in ALL OTHER MOTHS it is the male who is the active partner, seeking the hidden female by means of the powerful scent-detecting organs in his delicate antennae."
Peter.
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Post by vgashtarov on Dec 15, 2013 4:34:26 GMT -8
Thank you for the very interesting information you are telling me Peter. Hope next July to see all this with my own eyes, must be something very interesting. Unfortunately, Hepialus humili is not the most common moth, it is not rare - if you go to the subalpine meadows you might find some of them. Do you have these papers about H. humili, I think I don't have them. Last August I met Paul Waring at the SEL congress here in Bulgaria, I think his amusing lecture "Extreme mothing" was the last one.
Victor
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Post by nomad on Dec 15, 2013 5:23:32 GMT -8
Hi Victor, I am afraid this information was not in papers, but from my books, A field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland by Paul Waring and Martin Townsend [2003] and from another favourite ' Living with Butterflies ' by L.H. Newman 1967. Also my observations of the males of Hepialus humuli in the field. Here the nominate race of H. humuli is a common species, but another much rarer subspecies occurs in the Northern Shetland Isles [ thulensis]. I am going to visit rough grassland and try to photograph the hovering males next year and perhaps observe the females. Although they are not common in your locality, perhaps you might see the hovering males in your subalpine meadows at Dusk. I hope you are successful.
Peter
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