Last night I set up the blacklight. Since the butterflies were abundant, I thought maybe the moths would be too. And they were. I have far too many photographs of new moths to post here. I photographed 16 species that were new for me! I was hoping to get an Io Moth but that didn’t happen, but I did get some really nice sphinx moths that I’ve never seen before. Maybe tonight I can get an Io Moth. I’ve been using iNaturalist to get a quick ID on most of these moths and it is working very well, highly recommended!
This was the most exciting species, Aechemon Sphinx. Larval food is various species in the grape family. This is a big moth! I’ve never seen one before. This is a smaller sphinx moth, the Vashti Sphinx. The larval food plant is snowberry. Another new species for me. A Waved Sphinx. Larva feed on ash and hawthorn, both of which are present in the area. Zeller’s Macalla Moth, Macalla zelleri. Another new species for me. Larval food plant is poison ivy, which is very abundant here. Common Lytrosis Moth, Lytrosis unitaria. A strange looking moth, one of the larval food plants is hawthorn, which is found in the Slim Buttes. This will be a first South Dakota record for BugGuide when I get it entered. Nicrophorus orbicollis, a species of burying beetle, carrying a lot of phoretic mites. Large Lace-border Moth, Scopula limboundata. This will also be new BugGuide record for South Dakota when I get it entered. This is my big butterfly find, a Striped Hairstreak from a couple of days ago. I’ve only seen two of these before and neither one of those was very cooperative. This one was, I got lots of photos with the 100mm macro and ringflash.
