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Post by vgashtarov on Dec 21, 2013 20:52:11 GMT -8
oh ... vgashtarov .... better than my brother does not know that you took the Balkan Lemonia, I think that would not sleep for three nights .... Lemonia balcanica is not rare species, it just prefer little high altitude than Lemonia strigata. That time I had only L.strigata, which is much rare in Bulgaria, but it is not rare in SW BG, where I was born the females are amazing, sometimes they have amazing forms. Lemonia balcanica can be found around Sofia. And talking about strange situations there is another funny one. Autumn of 2011 wanted to try my new night UV trap. For those who doesn't know Sofia is covered of mountains, that's why there are many path way all over.. I chose Lozenska Mts. there is a shelter, the forest is mixed - Fagus, Fraxinus, Querqus. This is rarely visited place, even during the day. So I take the bus put my traps around and AGAIN in one moment went to sleep in the shelter. Under the pillow of the bed there was something, switch on the light and saw the book "Alphabet murders"by Agatha Christie ;-) Sleep well ! And yes....there was a family of edible dormouse..pretty noisy animals. |
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Post by nomad on Dec 22, 2013 3:33:02 GMT -8
In the U.K at least, attitudes to moth collecting have changed considerably. For instance if I wanted to operate a Moth trap in the same forest today, I would have to go through much red tape to gain permission, this is a mostly open access private forest that is leased to the Forestry Commission. They now shoot large areas of the forest again, so I may have problems with gamekeepers, who would probably protest that I am disturbing their pheasants. My operation would have to be for study-or photography, I simply would not be allowed to collect my catch!  Many people now use the powerful M.V. moth traps all over the U.K and arrange lots of open moth nights where all the species are recorded and released, this has built up a very interesting distribution of the U.K. moths. Light trapping all over the U.K. has shown that there has been a very serious decline, even in some once common moths, the population is only a fraction of what it once was! The main reasons of course are habitat loss and those chemicals that we love to spray all over our crops. |
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Post by rumina on Dec 22, 2013 8:23:27 GMT -8
hello to all of you . I fully agree with Nomad. you have to use light traps with great intelligence . I personally do not ever return to the same site in the following weeks . I'm back at the most 2 times per season. the careless use of moth tramps can be really harmful. when we were in Liguria clearly was a unique opportunity so we exposed 6 moth traps but at a distance from each other and in any case we are back in place only after a year so we tried to avoid the total hunting (unfortunately I know that for a lot of species rare it is time to hunt for a whole week and what I think the criminal because it captures everything indiscriminately ) . the fact is that I have understood this without anyone explain to me then I do not think you have to be to understand the phenomena that we can study the nature without damaging it. I do not know if you agree with me.
regarding the Lemonia in Italy we have only the taraxaci and dumi and it is therefore very rare species you mentioned are pure utopia for us ... unfortunately .
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Post by nomad on Dec 22, 2013 10:03:08 GMT -8
Hi rumina, I certainly do agree with your that responsible collecting should be carried out at all times . However as you know, I am not adverse to collecting Moths  I believe it is especially worthwhile investigating the more remoter parts of Europe.  . I have seen from the recent posts, that there is much to discover in those localities. I was trying to put forward that there is a better understanding of Moth traps nowadays and they are as popular as ever among moth recorders. I never used to tire of looking into my moth trap in the morning to see what I had managed to capture, it was always exciting, just like a Aladdin's cave and you usually got something for your trouble. I like the idea that the Victorian moth collectors during the 19th century used to take a rowing boat out among the Fens of Norfolk in the U.K. with a paraffin Tilley or storm lantern aboard to catch the rare moths occurring among the reedbeds. More of this and other moth stories can be found in my recent post on the Meek thread in Open topics. Peter. |
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Post by vgashtarov on Dec 22, 2013 11:48:08 GMT -8
Guys, I partly agree with you - I think and believe one trap can't make such a big damage to the population of moths. Birds, bats, wasps, spiders, parasites and cars kill and eat much more insects in general than one or few traps. You can't collect all of them nor they will visit your trap. The most dramatic changes of the population comes when you destroy the habitat. Once you destroy it, it is over with all the population. Last 5-10 years because of traps (independent energy source(battery)) our perceptions of what is rare and what is not rare get changed dramatically. In some places in the border mountains is necessary to work every night on one and the same spot or we change the spot, there we got amazing results almost every night and many new species for the country. Other that we tough that were rare are not rare at all. Few examples on how the change of the habitat damage the population: Apatura metis - this pretty butterfly is protected by law in many countries, it can be found in SW part of Bulgaria. This is a tree top species, you can't just go and collect it. If you see this species on the ground, is because it get attracted of some excrement's  . Last year because of high way works they destroy low part of a small river near my home village, next to the border with Greece. It is all covered with dust, trees are cut down - no Apatura, no much insects, no water birds nesting long the river (Charadrius dubius curonicus). And this area is very popular because I have discovered in this small place 2 new species and genus of dragonflies there : Selisiothemis nigra and Lindenia tetraphyla. Oncocnemis confusa michaelorum - another very interesting species from the Black Sea coast. Because of intensive works there it not easy to find it any more. Dorcadion gashtarovi ( Cerambycidae ) - almost the same steppe place in Black Sea coast - now on the very same place they build golf course. Very local endemic species, soon it is going to be in the history. |
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Post by rumina on Dec 23, 2013 3:30:53 GMT -8
hello vgashtarov about these issues I think we could argue endlessly . I agree with you that industrial development is destroying the last 50 years what nature has created hundreds of thousands of years. for example, I know that the colony 's most famous colias Myrmidone is disappearing from Romania for the construction of a highway.
the fact remains that here in Italy the only colony of existing Coenonympha tullia was extinguished by entomologists hungry specimens and the same thing is happening with the Proclossiana Eunomia . I are accustomed both Habitat and I can assure you that they are still pristine and suitable to accommodate the species. two cases are limited to certain species extremely weak but should make us think about our role in the collection of butterflies. I think this is not shared by those who sell to work ( they'll tell you that it is definitely impossible to extinguish a population ), but if the speaker is responsible for the extinction I think his speech is not worth much .
I agree with the fact , however, that night hunting has very different rules , you can hunt every night and collect different species from evening to evening . at that point, however, prefer to move with the fabric and not with the trap even if the problem is given by the possibility to remain towel overnight ........
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Post by vgashtarov on Dec 23, 2013 5:13:19 GMT -8
Hi Rumina, here in Bulgaria we don't have extinct Lepidoptera species up to now - just Parnassius apollo extinct from Vitosha Mts. near Sofia, but it happened when Bulgaria was kingdom. I can't blame the entomologists that time for extinction because they were 2-3 that time...also now we interested in Lepidoptera are 4-5. Because of habitat change it could happened very soon...believe or not perhaps in my country the only happy people because of world recession are the ecologist.
On the other hand some Lepidoptera have been always extremely rare and their populations before and now were very loose : Maculinea nausithous, Heteropterus morpheus, Gegenes nostrodamus, Panchrysia v-argenteum, Lamprotes c-aureum, Valerietta bulgarica, Periphanes victorina, Periphanes treitschkei etc.
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Post by nomad on Dec 23, 2013 11:05:55 GMT -8
Some really interesting comments are being made in this thread. Because of the great range of habitats in the British Isles we have around 2555 moth species and they make up 96% of our lepidoptera fauna. There is very little evidence that the collecting of moths has bought about the extinction of any species here. However, it is impossible to prove that large scale collecting pressure in the Victorian period did not help in tipping the balance, when it was combined with habitat loss. In the last 150 years about 62 moths species have become extinct in the U.K, nearly all from their habitat being destroyed or perhaps a few through climate change. The greatest extinctions have been in the Cambridgeshire - Norfolk fens, where species such as the Many Lined Constaconvexa polygrammata , Reed Tussock Laelia coenosa and Orache moth Trachea atriplicis disappeared. In the large sandy grasslands, known as the Breckland in East Anglia several moth species have become extinct and afforestation is probably to blame. Two Breckland moths that became extinct here during the 1960's were the Viper's Bugloss Hadena irreqularis and the beautiful little Spotted Sulphur Emmelia trabealis. It is true that the moths that have become extinct in the U.K may be found in a number of places across Europe, but some of the extinctions here were of interesting geographical races. In the last ten years three others species have joined the U.K's extinction list , the Orange Upperwing Jodia croceago, Bordered Gothic Heliophobus reticulata and the Brighton Wainscot Oria musculosa, all moths from the Noctuidae family.
The U.K's butterfly fauna has seen a number of important losses, the loss of habitat has again been responsible for a number of extinctions, although many would perhaps disagree, heavy collection pressure almost certainly helped towards the loss of a number of interesting geographical populations and races of our butterflies in the 19th century. Examples are certain Large Blue Maculinea arion ssp eutyphron colonies in the Cotswolds, and one in Somerset and at Barnwell Wold in Northants . The Silver-studded Blue Plebjus argus ssp masseyi population may have been at a critical level through over-collecting before a fire destroyed the last remaining population on the wet heaths of Cumbria. Even the Lycaena dispar dispar, extinct through the drainage of its Fenland home held out until the middle of the 19th century at Holme Fen, but the dealers of London had put a price on its head and every last butterfly and larvae was collected by the local villagers for sale. A number accounts mention that the habitat remained unchanged at Holme Fen before the butterfly disappeared . However, the butterfly was doomed here anyway, because the rest of the large fen was also lost to drainage. Peter.
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Post by nomad on Dec 26, 2013 11:40:17 GMT -8
The Moth Trap. When I was younger, I lived on the edge of a large town, I used to dislike hanging around the street lights looking for moths, they rarely landed at the bottom, they always seemed to rest just below the light high above where they were well out of reach. My mother used to let me leave the bathroom light on with the window open and this attracted a few common species. Finally after a long periods of paper rounds and odd jobs, and a few birthdays, I got my prized Mercury Vapour Moth Trap from Watkins & Doncaster. The bulb emits a special ultra violet light, which large numbers of moths find irresistible. This trap was invented by two brothers, H.S. and P.J.M Robinson in 1950. Early Robinson Traps had a metal base, but now the news ones like mine had a deep plastic base, which I named the moth tub. However, having my moth trap was one thing, but using it was another. Although where I was lived was on the edge of town, I was still in an urban area. Today my old house now lies in the middle of that town because all of the surrounding fields have been built on. I had a problem because the first night that I placed the trap in my garden, I was staggered to find that it the powerful bulb lit up all the surrounding houses and part of the neighbourhood. The kind people who lived either side of me had given permission for my use of the moth trap, but they may have regretted it, how they slept amazed me, because even with the curtains drawn my bedroom took on a eerie blue glow. Luckily for me my parents bedroom was on the opposite of the house, but even so I was limited to using my moth trap once or twice a week. How I had the nerve to use that in a built up area, I do not now know, but then I was young and very enthusiastic. It is a wonder that my moth trap survived any night, because there was a spate of vandalism in my area and once I found a rock close to my moth trap that was not there the night before, luckily it had missed its target, perhaps it was a ill aimed throw from the neighbours who were fed up with being kept awake at night. Looking back, you tend to remember the more spectacular species, many of those once common moths have become much scarcer nowadays. The moths that I most remember finding in the morning in the moth trap that I placed in my small back garden were the Garden Tiger[ Arctia caja ] my all time favourite moth, the large Poplar Hawkmoths [ Laothoe populi ] The Eyed Hawkmoth [Smerinthus ocellata] and the very beautiful Elephant Hawkmoth [ Deilephila elpenor]. I used to be content with collecting a small series and all the other moths were hidden in the herbage, away from the hungry birds. How I wished I owned a decent camera back then. There was limit however to the number of species you could catch in an urban garden and now all the fields opposite my house were being cleared for development and for a few years I hardly used my moth trap, partly because of the new neighbours who were older and they took a dim view of my nocturnal activities. It was time to go further afield and I managed to get a small portable generator to run the trap. I had vast areas of downland in my area, however most of this was cultivated private land and the few areas that were not cultivated were nature reserves, so I chose a very large forest of mainly beech and oak with good areas of birch and valleys with scrub. The Forest. There are records of this old Royal hunting forest from the Saxon period and a hereditary warden was installed at the time of William the Conqueror in 1066. Now I was old enough to moth trap in the forest and sometimes, I brought a friend along, but usually went alone. I did not have a car, so had to rely on friends to drop me and my moth trap off. A thin potholed minor road went through the center of the woodland and at intervals rides led to more open areas. What with my tent, sleeping bag, moth trap and generator they were quite a handful to get to my chosen site along the boggy ride. This site was near a low valley bottom with patches of open grassland and scrub. I used to place my moth trap in two secluded lawns, one of which was surrounded by mature Oaks, Beech and Sloe bushes . The other lawn by Birch and hawthorn. Looking at my notebooks again, I have chosen two of my best nights in that forest light trapping for moths. One from early May, the other in June. During this trip in early May, I hoped to get a number of local spring moths of these grand old Oakwoods. It was a good overcast night, I netted a few dusk flying species and sat in the gloaming listening to the chorus of Nightingales. I turned on my moth trap, although cloudy, these temperate forests are cold at this time of year and I soon crawled into my tent and fell fast asleep. Before the introduction of these powerful moths traps, many of the moths that I found in my trap were considered rare or hard to obtain and some of the moth collectors of the old school would never even consider using these M.V. traps because they considered it cheating. Well, I am afraid my M.V trap was all right by me and I had gone to a lot of effort to get my moths. Searching the trap early in the morning revealed a fine series of Great Prominent [ Peridea anceps] a species that the early entomologists considered a great prize because the larvae were rarely to be beaten from the lower branches of the oak trees, they fed high in the canopy. There were a few of the Lobster Moth [ Stauropus fagi] now considered a common species, but again only because of the use of these powerful light traps. The Stauropus fagi larvae have the strangest appearance of any British moths, it just does not simply resemble any other caterpillar. Also here among the the Oak feeders in the trap, were Frosted Green [ Polyploca ridens] and Lunar Marbled Brown [Drymonia ruficornis]. One of my favourites of these spring moths was the Scorched Carpet [ Ligdia adustata] Geometridae, the larvae feeding only on Spindle, a small tree which has bright pink berries in the Autumn. Later in June, I placed my trap nearby at a site with more open grassland and had another wonderful moth night. The first thing that I noticed were several of the stunning Small Elephant Hawkmoth [ Deilephila porcellus] . Here the Deilephila porcellus larvae were feeding on the Bedstraws growing in the short grassland along the valley Bottom. Also hiding in my egg boxes was such marvels as Pebble Hook-tip [ Drepana falcataria] Scarce Silver-lines [Bena biocolorana] and the Alder Moth [ Acronicta alni] . I also was surprised to have caught a perfect specimen of Maple Prominent [ Ptilodon cucullina] a moth that was then confined or thought to be to the Chiltern Hills, and other areas of eastern England. My friend, the record keeper told me it was the first record for Wiltshire and I presented this specimen to him for his reference collection, which is now housed in the county museum. Since that capture this moth has expanded its range westwards. Attachment DeletedAncient Oaks of the forest. The Oak in Europe supports more kinds of moths than any other tree species. Attachment DeletedThe remaining forest valley lawn, a couple of years ago. What of that Forest valley today, there have been great changes. The open grassland has nearly all vanished. The grassy lawns where I placed my moth traps have disappeared among a tangle of vegetation. During the late 1970's and early 1980's when I collected in the wooded valley there were still a wonderful array of butterflies that were probably already declining with a cession of coppicing in the 1960's. Then Boloria selene, Euphydrayas aurina, Pyrgus malvae , Hamearis lucina and later in the year Argynnis aglaja were all to be found on the wing there. All of these butterflies had become extinct in the forest by the end of the 1980's. The large colonies of the day flying sooty Odezia atrata also disappeared around this time. Most of the tree or shrub feeding moths will still be there, but the gorgeous Hawkmoth, Deliephila porcellus has probably gone because of the disappearance of the Bedstraw foodplants that used to carpet those short grasslands. About ten years ago the Forestry Commission decided to open up the valley bottom again and clear the scrub. This was too late for all those locally extinct butterflies and moths and because of the dense scrub removal those once common Nightingales, who were to be found nowhere else in the forest, had now no place to breed and no longer returned to occupy the valley. For a while after the clearance, some of the short grassland returned, and the forest valley again assumed its former beauty. The valley was then fenced off and a small herd of Old Park Cows were introduced. However with all the disturbance the invasive Ragwort [Senecio jacobaea] took hold and when the cattle ate this poisonous plant in quantity some died and the cattle were all removed. Even worse due to the disturbance, there was a further loss of the few remaining grasslands, which disappeared under a carpet of the dense, tall and horrible Tufted hair-grass [ Deschampsia cespitosa]. Not only were these grasslands good for lepidoptera, they held in the Autumn a number of small rare orange fungi known as waxcaps [ Hygrocybe ssp], which came in dazzling colours, shades of orange, blood red and yellows. A couple of years ago the Forestry Commission tried again to open up the valley bottom with diggers, but the disturbance made things worse, there was even more Tufted-hair grass and ragwort and this time the contractors took out nearly all of the Spindle trees, the foodplant of the pretty Carpet moth, ligdia adustata . Attachment DeletedSpindle trees [ Euonymus europaeus] in the forest valley before they were destroyed a few years ago. Perhaps you have other interesting stories to share of your light trapping or other adventures collecting moths . |
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Post by nomad on Dec 30, 2013 4:50:30 GMT -8
A few specimens of the moths that are mentioned in this thread.  Discoloxia blomeri Curtis 1832. Geometridae [ Larentiinae]. In the U.K. the Blomer's Rivulet is a uncommon moth, which is more frequently found in the south west and North of England. [ see bole collecting ] Specimens of two very beautiful Hawkmoths mentioned in the moth trap article above.  Deilephila elpenor Linnaeus 1758. Sphingidae [ Macroglossinae]. As well as finding the Elephant Hawkmoth [D. elpenor] in my moth trap, I used to like watching them at dusk hovering over the Honeysuckle in my garden. A widespread and common species in the U.K.  Deilephila porcellus Linnaeus 1758. Sphingidae [ Macroglossinae]. The Small Elephank Hawkmoth is another beauty, but is a much more local moth. |
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Jan 1, 2014 18:19:27 GMT -8
The moth in the photograph is Grammia blakei. During our 2012 trip to Colorado we use four light traps on four nights to collect 7 specimens. I was told that was an excellent catch. During our 2013 trip to Colorado in August, we arrived in Colorado rather late and decided to set traps out before it was dark. We went through the town of Wray, CO just east of the Kansas State Line and found a suitable spot and set out two traps. We then drove to Fort Morgan 75 miles to the west. After checking into the motel, we set out two more traps at a location a mile west of Fort Morgan. We visited this location in 2012 and collected a single specimen of G. blakei (We set out the traps in the dark and a Colorado State Trooper paid us a visit. He remembered seeing the blue lights year before and wished us well.) We then checked the lights around several service stations and collected lots of Schinia and Catocala moths. We then visited the lights on the back of the Walmart Store in Fort Morgan. We were thrilled when we each collect 5 or 6 specimens each of G. blakei. The next morning we drove back to collect our traps near Wray, CO. When we opened the first trap we found a 100+ specimens of G. blakei. We found them in virtually every light trap we set out. They were abundant to say the least. However, collecting my first specimen in 2012 was a memorable occasion.  |
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Post by nomad on Jan 2, 2014 2:20:05 GMT -8
Leptraps interesting field report. The only species that we have that resembles your American species from the Arctiidae family in any way, is the day-flying tiger moth Parasemia plantaginis. This is a very local moth, which is found in a range of open habitats.  Parasemia plantaginis Top the rare all white form hospita and bottom the normal form.   Here are a couple of images of Parasemia plantaginis that I took on the Wiltshire, U.K. downs in 2012. |
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Post by megagyas on Jan 2, 2014 2:47:48 GMT -8
 Over the years, I have been fortunate to observe and to collect some rather nice specimens in the Mountains of western Vermont during a research project that I participated in that was conducted at Michigan State University. Shown are a few of the extreme examples of P. canadensis collected by myself over the years. Most of these are called ab. fm. fletcheri- I have seen very few females of form fletcheri as most have been males. HR |
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Post by megagyas on Jan 2, 2014 5:09:02 GMT -8
I will add this one, as the initial capture of this specimen involved a two-day search. I missed it on the first attempt as it was perched on a willow branch high above a stream in Vermont. The next day, it was in the same location and I managed to make the capture without damaging the specimen beyond what you see here. In my area of Northern New York and into neighboring Vermont, the ranges of both forms overlap both so that hybridization often occurs and mixtures of traits of both the banded form and the red-spotted form are often seen along mountain streams where stands of the host plant- Black Willow (Salix nigra)- are abundant. The butterfly shown is completely unique in the sense that it is not only a bilateral hybrid but also a gynandromorph. The only other specimen that I know of similar to this one was produced in a lab involving an F2 backcross between B. arthemis and a western B. lorquini. Dr. Austin Platt provided much information re: this complex and published his research based on his studies in Vermont  some years ago. HR |
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Post by nomad on Jan 2, 2014 6:23:08 GMT -8
It is amazing that you missed the gynandromorph one day and manged to find it again and capture it on the next day. You must have been greatly relieved to have found such a rare specimen again.
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I believe it is especially worthwhile investigating the more remoter parts of Europe. 
. I have seen from the recent posts, that there is much to discover in those localities. I was trying to put forward that there is a better understanding of Moth traps nowadays and they are as popular as ever among moth recorders. I never used to tire of looking into my moth trap in the morning to see what I had managed to capture, it was always exciting, just like a Aladdin's cave and you usually got something for your trouble.
. Last year because of high way works they destroy low part of a small river near my home village, next to the border with Greece. It is all covered with dust, trees are cut down - no Apatura, no much insects, no water birds nesting long the river (Charadrius dubius curonicus). And this area is very popular because I have discovered in this small place 2 new species and genus of dragonflies there : Selisiothemis nigra and Lindenia tetraphyla. 
