Thursday, June 29, 2006

Prominently on display...

I've always liked the Prominents. Is hard to say why. It's probably because they are often beautifully marked with subtle colours and tasteful shades. Many are odd shapes (even odder in their larval stages) with tufted wings or strange appendages. Some even roll their wings up so they look like broken twigs when at rest - but we'll get to those at a later stage.

I've featured a few Prominents in the past - how could you forget the Pink Prominent from a few months ago!! So, I thought it about time to see some more. Would love to see a few comments posted - even silly ones...


The incomparable Elegant Prominent. I was truly amazed when I saw my first one, and I still like 'em now! It is fairly common in Southern Ontario where the adults are on the wing during mid-summer. The larval foodplants are poplars. What a slik-looking creature...


The lovely Georgian Prominent. I like this one because of the "blocky" pattern on the wings - very nice, and blends in well on the bark. Little wonder that these creatures are so hard to find during daylight hours. This one feeds on oaks.


The odd-looking Sigmoid Prominent. Out of all the clostera species I like this one the best - and it has the best name also. Really like that tufted abdomen! It is on the wing all summer and the caterpillars feed on poplars and willows.

Would ya like to see some more???

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:04 AM

    I love the prominents! Thanks so much for all this - I'd love to see more. I have a question though. How common are prominents in Europe? Are they aliens to N. America? Or are they somewhat endemic to N. America (That is, if something can be 'somewhat endemic'!)
    MothsThatRock...

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  2. The Prominents are a worldwide group of moths. There a a few in UK and quite a few (about 50 plus in Ontario alone) in North America. So, they are not endemic to anywhere in particular as a family.

    They are brilliant though and I will put a few more images on the blog for you MTR...

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  3. Anonymous12:50 PM

    My wife loves the prominents in particular. In fact, she is doing a happy prominent dance at this moment.

    When I show many of my unidentified moth photos to her, she often says "that's a prominent" and is more often than not correct in her ID. She likes the ones with fat bodies, big furry "arms" and hair all over--things she finds admirable in a moth, but not in a man.

    I personally like the sigmoid prominent because it resembles a miniature terrestrial lobster.

    If you have a photo, I vote for Wavy-Lined Heterocampa or the Chocolate Prominent.

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