Three Good Moths...

I've been lucky of late to visit some excellent sites for my mothing activities. Mostly I've been wanting to acquire some photos of common moths in order to "fill a few gaps". However, some rather lovely and unexpected gems have come my way - here are three of them.

Above is the superb little noctuid Cerma cora. It has to be said that I've been after this one for a long long time, so when I spotted it sitting on the sheet at Raven Lake last weekend it was a mad rush for a jar! Jarred it was, but it took an awful long time the next day before I could secure the photos I wanted. It was a restless little devil and I had to "fridge" it a few times before it got fed-up and humored me with a photo session!

This species seems to be little-known in Ontario. The larvae feed on pin cherry, which is common enough, but the moth itself appears inexplicably rare. It was indeed a rare prize, who knows when the next one will appear...


A couple of nights ago I was down at Wilson Tract again with my good friend Mike. It was another classic session with in excess of 260 species attracted to our battery of six lights. The highlight came pretty early when Mike pointed out an unfamiliar moth fluttering against one of the sheets. It didn't take too long to figure out what it was! Meet Eutilia pulcherrima, the aptly-named Beautiful Eutilia. We were both stunned, and then we saw five more! Just incredible. It reminds me of the Light Marathyssa in general aspect, but is chunky, more boldly patterned and has a large white patch on the hind wing. This lovely moth is on the wing mostly in June here in Ontario and the larval foodplant is poison sumac. Again, it appears extremely local within the province.


After all those Eutilias we figured it would have to take something very special to beat them. Well, there it was, in the bottom of one of the traps - Phosphila miselioides, the Spotted Phosphila. Indeed it was hard to miss what with those stunning snowy-white reniform spots. Sunglasses required! And yet another moth I've long wanted to see. Oh the joys of mothing. This super noctuid flies in mid summer and the larval foodplant is common greenbriar.

I'm off to UK tomorrow, so you may be seeing a few British moths over the next three weeks - stay tuned...