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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 20, 2011 14:02:29 GMT -8
Hello all, Around 11:00 a.m. on 08 Aug. 2000 I collected a fairly fresh male specimen of Erinnyis alope resting quietly on a vertical corner post of my outdoor porch. It was in surprisingly good condition, except for tattered wing tips, total wingspan 9.7cm (3.75"). Soon after I showed the mounted specimen to my late friend Ron Hooper; he did some research (checking provincial collections & national collection in Ottawa) & discovered that it was a new record for Canada. It is a Neotropical (Latin Am. & W. Indies) stray way out of it's normal range being found rarely in Florida with a few strays as far north as New Jersey & Kansas (from Covell's "Field Guide to Moths of Eastern N. Am.). Ron said other Erinnyis spp. have strayed as far north as southern Ontario but no E. alope have been collected anywhere else in Canada. It is quite extraordinary that this large sphinx moth strayed this far north to 52N, 103W to end up in N.E. Sask. (I also collected a Black Witch moth in my yd. a few yrs. ago!); equally extraordinary is the fact that I collected it during the daytime where it had come to rest in my porch! Of all the hundreds of farm yds. scattered throughout Sask. it ended up in mine by pure accident alone...and I'm a bug collector who could preserve it for science...what luck! Another possiblity...perhaps it may have hopped a ride on a produce truck from the southern states? Who knows? Sure goes to show that extraordinary insects can show up anywhere & at anytime, a large part of what makes this collecting hobby so interesting. John K. Attachments:
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Post by prillbug2 on Mar 21, 2011 13:13:38 GMT -8
Maybe, you'll find a Texas Wasp Moth. Or, maybe a Thysania zenobia will fly into your lights some day. Still waiting for a Thysania aggrippina to show up at the lights, some day. Never know what can be sucked up into the atmosphere when there are storms shooting in from the gulf, nearly anything can be deposited anywhere at anytime. When there are hurricanes in the gulf, that is when I'm down in Southern Illinois; usually around late August and early September. I've had a huge list of strange finds at lights down there. Jeff Prill.
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evra
Full Member
Posts: 230
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Post by evra on Mar 21, 2011 22:53:49 GMT -8
That's a pretty impressive record John. I was under the impression that most of those stray Canadian Sphingid records were from S. Ontario. I think yours is a stray, not an import. Erinnyis can definitely migrate, I've taken E. ello well over 100 miles from habitat with host plant.
I took E. alope about 20 miles north of the Mexican Border in SE AZ last year (exactly 10 years to the day of your catch), and I consider that very lucky because E. alope is very rarely reported in Arizona.
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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 22, 2011 12:48:15 GMT -8
Prillbug2, I have somewhere in my collection an unidentified, small, black, wasp-like Arctuid moth that was given to me many yrs. ago by someone who worked in the produce dept. of a local grocery store. The moth had stowawayed/hitched a ride among a bunch of bananas; I have to relocate that old specimen & post a photo here...; Yes hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico can certainly blow insects far off course - my Black Witch moth appeared the week following a huge hurricane in the Gulf; very strong S & SE winds had blown nearly continulously for the week prior to the B.W's appearance. Even though I am way up here in the "north" I now always keep an eye out for ununsual bugs throughout the collecting season, especially following prolonged periods of strong southerly winds. A single specimen of T. zenobia was actually collected in Regina, Sask. some yrs. ago; Regina is about 170 miles (275 kms) S. of my location. Like the Johnny Cash song..."I keep my eyes w-i-d-e open all the time". ;D Evra, Yes I do believe my specimen is a stray (not a stowaway). The foodplants of E. alope don't even grow in or near Canada...Allamanda sp., Jatropha sp. (Nettlespurge) & Papaya! Interesting about your collection of E. alope in Az & rarity even way down there...certainly makes my collection up here all the more unbelieveable! Thanks to both for your comments! John K.
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