Crystal Clear...

I caught a very nice moth in my back yard trap last night. Was the moth above, a clear-winged moth called Synanthedon acerrubri. At first glance I thought it was going to be a closely related species called Synanthedon acerni, the Maple Callus Borer Moth, but I was mistaken, happily so I might add! It has been my experience that it is only S. acerni that actually comes to light on a regular basis - the rest you find by chance visiting flowers during the daytime, only one rarely does.

These clear-winged moths are micros in the family Sesiidae. There are quite a few species in Ontario but they are frustratingly elusive. Lights are ineffective for most species and searching them out in the daytime mostly proves fruitless. Because of their clear-winged appearance and day-flying habits many members of the Sesiidae are probably mistaken for various wasps. The larvae bore into the stems, roots and trunks of various woody and herbaceous plants.

By far the best way to actually see these magnificent creatures is to lure them with pheromones. Short of capturing a female and putting her into a little cage how can one go about this? Well, in UK one can actually buy pheromones. They come in little bags and the idea is to hang different combinations of pheromones in a low tree or shrub to lure different species. I tried it with a mothing friend a couple of years back when we were over there and it works like magic. No sooner had the bags been hung than the female-hungry males appear out of thin air - is quite something. They are then very easy to catch and photograph. I'm not sure if such packages of pheromones are available over here for our species...


Another view of Synanthedon acerrubri. Quite a fantastic-looking creature. I want more!