Bugging You From San Juan Island

I had my moth light up last night and found a handful of specimens still hanging out this morning at 06:30 when I got up, grabbed my coffee and went to check the station since the birds tend to start counting my specimens if I don’t beat them to the job. The problem with the birds counting is they EAT as they count. It’s even more irritating when the Yellowjackets are competing for tally rights.

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Here’s a moth that was new to me. This is the Apical Prominent moth (Clostera apicalis). It is in the family Notodontidae (Prominent Moths),Subfamily Pygaerinae.

Clostera apicalis uses birch, poplar, and willow as host plants for larval development and sometimes the larvae form communal nests woven of silk threads.

The geographic range of this species is recorded from the northeastern and western U.S., across Canada, and north into the Northwest Territories. In the North, the species is univoltine ( one generation per year), and in the south, bivoltine (two generations per year). You will find adults flying from the months of May to August and larvae developing in August and September.

References

Bugguide.net https://bugguide.net/node/view/25181

North American Moth Photographers Group http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=7901

Thanks for stopping by!