Today (June 22) marks the start of National Moth Week, 2023. For anyone interested in participating or learning more about how to “MOTH,” check out the National Moth Week website here: https://nationalmothweek.org.
I’ll be brief, but start by introducing myself. I’m Cynthia (Brast-Bormann) and I am an entomologist who lives on San Juan Island. My “work” is on a volunteer basis. Because of my love for insects, spiders, and the natural world, I endeavor to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with our community and anyone else who would like to know more about these charismatic critters that are all too often targeted for eating leaves, buzzing, sometimes biting or stinging, but mostly for merely existing. We stop short of recognizing they are food for other organisms, work to control pest populations (without noxious chemicals), and they help us to have food (pollination). Without insects and spiders, we would be in a deep heap of doo! Pardon my French.
Each day of National Moth Week – which runs through July 30, 2023, I will be posting a gallery of what shows up at my light trap each night, hopefully with an ID along with the photos I post. Please feel free to let me know if you see something misidentified. 🙂
If you’re interested in Mothing, or learning more about other bugs, you may contact me with questions via email or join the Facebook Group, Bugs of the San Juan Islands at https://www.facebook.com/groups/3594158544144419
California Pyrausta Moth (Pyrausta californicalis)Western Panthea Moth (Panthea virginarius)Small Magpie (Anania hortulata)(Arta epicoenalis), a Pyralid mothGenus Eppirhoe Western Conifer Looper (Caripeta aequaliaria)Diamondback Moth (Plutella xylostella)Tribe Archipini – TortricidaeGray Scoopwing (Callizzia amorata)Choristoneura mothStamnoctenis pearsalli, a Carpet Moth (I think)Stamnoctenis pearsalli, a Carpet Moth (I think)Stamnoctenis pearsalli, a Carpet Moth (I think)Stamnoctenis pearsalli, a Carpet Moth (I think)Stamnoctenis pearsalli, a Carpet Moth (I think)Stamnoctenis pearsalli, a Carpet Moth (I think)Stamnoctenis pearsalli, a Carpet Moth (I think)Stamnoctenis pearsalli, a Carpet Moth (I think)Stamnoctenis pearsalli, a Carpet Moth (I think)Horned Spanworm Moth (Nematocampa resistaria)Unknown Noctuid moth
Tried to post last night, but our internet speed is TERRIBLE. Gotta love that about living on San Juan. It’s always been slow. Once upon a time, we lost internet for more than 2 weeks. 🤦♀️
I’m behind in sorting out all my bug bucket visitors and yesterday was a setback. Our well lost pressure. That’s a disaster in mid summer when all I could think of was how I’d have to watch my beautiful flowers wither away in the searing sun and die.
Someone trying to be helpful made a suggestion about how I could do laundry at the laundry mat in town. Personally, given the toxic fragrances in laundry products like Bounce, Gain, and Tide, I’d rather wash my underwear out in the murky pond on our property. If you use these products, you might consider switching to something less noxious. Also, I highly recommend reading some of Ann Steinemann’s research on chemicals in household products. You can link to her work here https://research.jcu.edu.au/portfolio/anne.steinemann/
Really, the last thing I was worried about was laundry! It’s BUG season. I’m certain I have enough clothes to last 3 weeks and you can always clean up with baby wipes and my momma taught me you can wear your underwear inside out if you are in a pickle and can’t wash them! 😉 Thankfully, our issue was just a burned out capacitor and we have water! Grateful for the help from our former homeowners and our local island well service Mauldin’s Well Service. I’ll catch up with everything else eventually.
For now, here’s a cute moth I found in the bucket Thursday evening. I believe it’s a species of Erebidae moth, Dasychira grisefacta. To me, it looks like a wee little grumpy bat. 🦇
We are getting closer to National Moth Week 2023 (July 22-30). I am continuing my head start. If you’ve been following along, you’ll see I am posting a daily gallery of what I’ve collected in my bug bucket with UVB light each night when I check the next morning.
It took me a good while today to sit down and try to work out ID’s for my specimens. ALL specimens found in the bucket are handled with gentle care and safely released back into cryptic hiding spots to better avoid predation by birds, yellow jackets, and other predaceous insects. Probably add in spiders, though I have not seen many in this dry spell of weather we are having. I did have an unexpected guest show up in the bucket this morning. A frog. Yes, if you set the buffet up, the dinner guests will inevitably find it. 🐸
I’ll add the link to the National Moth Week website here https://nationalmothweek.org and if you are interested in participating and can’t figure out what you need to do or need advice on how to MOTH, feel free to reach out. Check out the gallery below and thanks for stopping by!
Gallery
Bug Bucket Bug BucketBug Bucket with Egg Cartons for th moths to hide inside Northern Pacific Tree Frog (Pseudacis regilla)Pyrausta perrubralisNorthwestern Phoenix Moth (Eulithis xylina)Western Avocado Leafroller Moth (Amorbia cuneanum)Western Conifer Looper (Caripeta aequaliaria)Grass Moth Genus ScopariaDiplotaxis sp. Scarab BeetleSubfamily EnnominaeNorthern Pacific Tree Frog (Pseudacis regilla)Packards Girdle Moth (Sabulodes packardata)Northwestern Phoenix Moth (Eulithis xylina)Packards Girdle Moth (Sabulodes packardata)Packards Girdle Moth (Sabulodes packardata)Zigzag Furcula Moth (Furcula scolopendrina)Packards Girdle Moth (Sabulodes packardata)Iridopsis emasculatum I believeZigzag Furcula Moth (Furcula scolopendrina)Agrotis sp. , Family NoctuidaeAgrotis sp. , Family NoctuidaeStamnoctenis sp. , Family GeometridaeAgrotis sp. Stamnoctenis sp. GeometridaeWestern Tent Moth (Malacosoma californicum) left, and Virginia Tiger Moth (Spilosoma virginica) rightPale Marked Angle (Macaria signaria)Unknown, but cute!Simple Wave (Scopula junctaria)EnnonominaeGenus IridopsisTribe BoarmiiniKnot Horn Moth (Subfamily Phycitinae) – family PyralidaeUnknown, but check out the reflection in the image.Little White Lichen Moth (Clemensia albata)Erebidae, and Dasychira grisefacta, I believe. Erebidae, and Dasychira grisefacta, I believe. Erebidae, and Dasychira grisefacta, I believe. Erebidae, and Dasychira grisefacta, I believe. Erebidae, and Dasychira grisefacta, I believe. Erebidae, and Dasychira grisefacta, I believe. Erebidae, and Dasychira grisefacta, I believe.
I believe this is Dasychira griefacta . It takes off somewhat awkwardly but made it up into a tall fir tree.
Continuing on to another morning’s findings (07.13.2023), I am extremely happy with how adding the egg cartons to my bug bucket are improving my moth collecting. Side note here – I am only collecting photos and these critters are handled with gentle care and released to places where they are able to hide from predators during the day. I even go so far as to color match their hidey spots. 😉
Photos of the specimens found are in the gallery below along with some pics of my set up. National Moth Week is July 22-30, so if you are interested in participating, please check out the link here https://nationalmothweek.org, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions. You can send me an email or find me on Facebook (Bugs of the San Juan Islands) at https://www.facebook.com/groups/3594158544144419 .
Thanks for reading!
Gallery
Bug Bucket with UVB light on topBug Bucket with egg cartons inside for moths to have hiding spotsWestern Avocado Leafroller Moth I believe, (Amorbia cuneanum)Unknown Geometrid moth (Subfamily Ennominae)I think this one is the Double Striped Scoparia Moth (Scoparia biplagialis)Western Avocado Leafroller Moth I believe, (Amorbia cuneanum)American Sharp-angled Carpet Moth (Euphoria intermediata)Perhaps (Macaria adonis)Pero mizonPero mizon mothZigzag furlcula moth (Furcula scolopendrina) left, and Pero mizon moth on the rightColumbian Emerald Moth (Nemoria darwiniata)EnnonominaeTortricid moth (Genus Pandemis) I believeBug bucket interior with egg cartons and cardboard for moths to have hiding spotsNoctuinaeZigzag furcula moths and Pero mizon mothVirginia Tiger Moth (Spilosoma virginica)Virginia Tiger Moth (Spilosoma virginica)Virginia Tiger Moth (Spilosoma virginica)Virginia Tiger Moth (Spilosoma virginica)Zigzag Furcula Moth (Furcula scolopendrina)
I finally got a few photos of these two after trying (and failing) in my attempts when I first spotted them on Sunday. Curiously, they were “bumping” onto tiny little cones on our fir tree, creating intermittent bursts of pollen with each “hit.” I wondered if they were perhaps eating pollen in advance of mating – with protein a necessary element in egg production.
These flies aren’t extraordinarily abundant. I checked my bug records, and the only other one I’ve seen in the yard was May 2, 2021. They are unique enough that I remembered looking them up and finding that the West Coast species is actually a subspecies, thus the 3rd name, angustipennis, tacked on to the binomial (Phoroctenia vittata).
Going back through my computer, I did find my previous source. Sometimes my computer filing system actually works and I remember to put labels and tags on my saved papers. It makes it so much easier to find them again! Re-reading the paper by Oosterbroek, Pjotr & Bygebjerg, Rune & Munk, Thorkild (2006), I was especially interested in their antennal illustrations, but found another part about the larvae interesting. They state, “the larvae of all these species develop in decaying wood of deciduous trees and might turn out to represent an especially significant conservation and monitoring element of the saproxylic fauna, as most of the species are rather scarce and some of them even very rare. Moreover, they are usually confined to old forests, orchards and similar habitats where there has been a long continuity of the presence of old, dying and fallen trees (Stubbs 2003).”
Our Landscape is Changing
The area near our home has remnants of older growth trees, though many are being cut and cleared for development, and the creation of homesteads. I worry that we will lose some of these species as the forests become more and more fragmented and the trees are more stressed with the advent of higher temperatures brought about by climate and landscape change. Yes, cutting trees = hotter spaces. We need trees! And bugs. Or will sorely regret our choices and actions when we are face to face with the reality of the great die-off of species.
Back to the antennae for these Tiger Craneflies. Can you spot the male and the female in my photos? The male antennae are quite distinctive with their comb-like shape. Entomologists describe the comb-like antennae as Pectinate. If you haven’t figured it out yet, the male is the smaller of the pair. His antennae are wider, and he’s hanging on the bottom.
Tiger Craneflies (Phoroctenia vittata angustipennis) – Note the striking comb-like antennae of the males
Why might craneflies be useful? Well, aside from population size being an indicator for forest ecological relationships, they make great food for wildlife, especially baby birds and their parents.
I’ve been meaning to post this for awhile now. Catching up on projects like this will help mark time until our cold winter weather gives way to warm spring sunshine. This is a story about a brave little bug that came back in my suitcase from our pre-covid trip to Mexico. His name was Fernando. The drawings are something I worked on during the long rainy days we were stuck indoors.
My husband took me to Los Cabos, Mexico in January 2019 for some sunshine. It gets so dreary and dark in the Pacific Northwest that spending ten days visiting the Baja Peninsula confers many health benefits. These include replenishing your vitamin D levels and improving your mood if you suffer Seasonal Affective Disorder.
Getting to Mexico from Seattle is a bit of a journey – the worst of it getting off San Juan Island since our ferry system is reliably unreliable. We flew Alaska Airlines direct to Los Cabos. They have newer planes and nice flight attendants, so our experience was pretty stress free. We rented a car in Los Cabos and began our adventure, but since I’m not a travel writer, this story isn’t going to be about traveling through Baja. Trust me that we got the sunshine we needed. Our experience in Mexico was mostly wonderful. The people were nice, food delicious, and we felt safe. Caveat…my ONLY issue was with our airbnb hostess who let her cat free roam and it brought me an injured gecko. Being Drago’s mom has increased my awareness of how Herps (reptiles and amphibians) are susceptible to pain just like we are. It’s not cool to let your cat go out and torture wildlife. That’s in your control as a cat owner and please be a responsible cat owner. Keep kitty in a catio, on a leash, supervised with you watching closely when outdoors, or INSIDE! Rant over.
This is Fernando’s story:
Fernando lived in a little driftwood “casa” on a Los Cabos beach where he could lounge and enjoy the warm sunshine every day. Little did I know I was sneaking Fernando back into the USA when I picked up that piece of driftwood to bring home as a souvenir. My bad. Very bad for poor Fernando. I didn’t know he was clinging to his casa, scared out of his wits. He was completely hidden, and even managed to evade detection by customs when we flew home from Mexico to re-enter the USA. I discovered the tiny, unhappy stowaway when I was unpacking my suitcase once we got home. Since he was alive and needing care, I also decided he needed a name. I came up with the name Fernando, which means “brave traveler” in Spanish. I guess Fernando was pretty brave to leave his homeland and family behind. We promised to repatriate Fernando the following year, but sadly that didn’t happen. The pandemic happened. Fernando was stuck in the cold, dreary PNW that winter. Although he was provided with a warm stove for heat, food, and water, he didn’t live long enough to return to Baja. Poor Fernando. I tried to visualize a happy ending for him. Viva Mexico!
Fernando was very happy living on the beach in Los Cabos. His favorite activity was to broil himself in the sun while reading Gringo Daily.
Fernando found himself on an involuntary trip when the tourist picked up his driftwood casa to bring home as a souvenir. Poor Fernando.
He was miserable on the flight – leaving his home and heading to the very cold, very dreary, and very gray skies of the Pacific Northwest. Poor Fernando. No more sunshine. 😦
When he was discovered, Fernando’s hostess tried to make him as comfortable as possible. He got a nice warm spot by the fire.
Fernando dreamed of returning to Mexico. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, but we hope that Fernando’s spirit made its way back to that sunny beach. RIP Fernando.
Here’s a morphological illustration of Fernando the Firebrat. While I was pretty sure Fernando goes into genus Thermobia, I could be wrong. Given that he was found outside on the beach, he may be in another genus within the family Lepismatidae.
I sat outside today in the sunshine, forced convalescence if you will, exhausted and achey after getting my Covid Omicron Variant booster vaccine yesterday at the San Juan County Fairgrounds. My outdoor time was unfortunately cut short because we have been inundated with construction development noise. I’m fairly certain I will be forever challenged to have an amiable relationship with our newest neighbors. In part, because they sited their VACATION home, right in front of our view. Mind you, they could have moved over 100 feet and we would not have to look across the top of our driveway at their newly constructed 2nd home. It has definitely impacted us. We’ve lost a lot of our privacy out here in the woods. It was never my desire to have close neighbors. I am a bit of a recluse….which is what the new neighbor said about his wife, yet, it begs me to ask again, WHY DID YOU BUILD YOUR HOUSE RIGHT ON TOP OF US?
Oh, and the jackhammering! That noise is enough to make a person homicidal. We had an entire summer of jackhammering from the former owners of that property. Really, truly, that property should never have been zoned for development. Not any development. It’s partly (half) wetland, and the other half is bedrock. Imagine the task of trying to excavate enough to bury your septic lines down the hill when you have solid bedrock! Also, our house is on that same shelf of bedrock, so the hammering shakes the walls and vibrates the floors of our home in the process of all this construction. The development on this lot has gone on for multiple years. I’m really tired of the disruption.
I digress. Sorry, I just had to vent. San Juan Island would be a much friendlier place for wildlife and bugs and such if we didn’t allow anyone to build a 2nd, or 3rd home here. We are outgrowing our space and it isn’t pretty.
Here’s my bug of the day. This beauty is a Western Calligrapher Fly (Toxomerus occidentalis). I was mesmerized watching it rest on the mint leaf. The patterning on the dorsal side of the abdomen reminds me of some sort of totem design.
The adults of this fly species are pollinators. They lay eggs on plants near aphids and when larvae emerge they are predatory on the aphids. It is believed that late instar larvae overwinter, pupation takes place in the soil cavities in the spring and adults emerge later in summer. The name for this group of flies comes from Greek toxon ‘bow’ + meron ‘thigh’ (refers to the bow-shaped hind femur). You can see the curve in the first photo below, circled in red. Something else interesting pertaining to the adult coloration I found on bugguide.net: “Colors vary with overall temperature during pupation: if it was hot, the yellow/orange increases and the background becomes lighter, but if it was cold, the dark/black increases and the yellow/orange becomes darker like the background.”
Enjoy the last few days of sunshine and embrace our native pollinators. We are heading into the dark part of the year. For those of us who live here year round, you know what to expect. Lots and lots of rain.
So, this was not without a LOT of frustration on my end – due to lack of practice converting Powerpoint presentations to YouTube. The audio just wouldn’t sync. Finally…figured…it…out. 🤦♀️ Here’s my presentation from this past Sunday’s Garry Oak Symposium at the Grange. Feel free to watch and ask questions if you weren’t able to attend. For anyone interested, I’ve included references and literature at the end. Sorry in advance if there are some audio issues. They are minor and I just decided to go with it. 🙂 I’d like to add a special thanks to April Randall for her amazing artwork. She drew “Garry,” as in Garry the Oak Tree. Enjoy!
Scared of Spiders? Here’s a go-to info-sheet (that I plan to update as time allows) with links to verifiable, research-backed Spider Information/Literature. Let’s end all the misinformation and our arachnophobia. Too often people buy into false reports. Don’t listen to someone’s tall tale of horror. These stories are sensationalized and inaccurate. Know the facts. Dispel the rumors. Spiders are not out to kill you. It’s just not true.
YOU have to do the reading! These are scientifically based, accurate studies with information related to spider bites.
*Bennett RG, Vetter RS. An approach to spider bites. Erroneous attribution of dermonecrotic lesions to brown recluse or hobo spider bites in Canada. Can Fam Physician. 2004 Aug;50:1098-101. PMID: 15455808; PMCID: PMC2214648 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2214648/pdf/15455808.pdf.
*Melissa M. Gaver-Wainwright, Richard S. Zack, Matthew J. Foradori, Laura Corley Lavine, Misdiagnosis of Spider Bites: Bacterial Associates, Mechanical Pathogen Transfer, and Hemolytic Potential of Venom From the Hobo Spider, Tegenaria agrestis (Araneae: Agelenidae), Journal of Medical Entomology, Volume 48, Issue 2, 1 March 2011, Pages 382–388, https://doi.org/10.1603/ME09224
Brown Recluse Spiders (Loxoceles sp) – NO! I repeat “NO, none, nada!” established populations in our area.
In the attached links below, you will find links to information about the Brown Recluse Spider. Information that comes from a verified, reputable source – from an actual expert. Brown Recluse spiders do not live in the San Juan Islands. Caveat: this is not to say that if you move here from an area where there ARE established populations, one might be found hitching on your moving boxes. It’s possible, BUT – they have not been able to survive and breed here. If you see a large brown spider in your house – especially on the ceiling, it is most likely (99.99%) going to be a Giant House Spider (Eratigena duellica). They are very common and harmless. If you don’t like them, just catch in a cup and take it to a sheltered area outside – preferably another structure where it might have a chance to survive. They won’t hurt you.
Map showing distribution of Brown Recluse spiders (Please note that San Juan County is NOT found on this map) – https://spiders.ucr.edu/spiders-map
Map of Brown Recluse Spider distribution – UC Riverside
Where else can I find reliable information on Spiders?
There are a few sources I’ll list here. The first two are the ones you should look at first. They are valuable resources with information from highly credentialed experts in all things arachnid-related. If you read something written by either Rod Crawford (Seattle Burke Museum curator of the arachnid collection) or by Rick Vetter (UC Riverside Department of Entomology), you can be assured it is correct.
As a local resource, you can also check out the Facebook Bug Group (Bugs of the San Juan Islands). There are several group “experts” with experience identifying spiders. These folks generously volunteer their time and knowledge, so keep that in mind and please refrain if you feel inclined to INSIST they are wrong and there are INDEED Brown Recluse Spiders living in your house in San Juan County. If you have a spider you’d like identified, it helps to have a couple of clear photos to submit. Try and get a shot of the dorsal (top) of the spider, and if you’re able, one of its face – showing eye pattern. You may contact me, Cynthia Brast-Bormann at cynthiabrast@icloud.com to submit live or deceased specimens for identification. I will help you coordinate a drop off point for collection. Please don’t indiscriminately KILL a spider though and ask me to ID it. It will likely make reliable identification more difficult. Just get a cup and a lid with some air holes punched in the top. I appreciate your showing kindness to the helpless creature you’ve caught. I will ID and humanely release.
Bugs of the San Juan Islands Facebook Group – There are at least 4 spider group experts and folks with entomology degrees or experienced backgrounds in the group who are more than qualified to help you. https://m.facebook.com/groups/bugsofthesanjuanislands/about/
Great YouTube information and fun links to watch from one of Bugs of the San Juan Island’s group experts, Arlo Pelegrin (entomologist and arachnologist)
Spiders of the West and their Medical Significance – Arlo Pelegrin at Dept of Health
Hello Everyone! Meet my new bug friend, Radar Love ❤️ He must have crashed the wrong party. Radar gone wrong! I found him floating in our pool, in the midst of those raucous “dippers” (the Diplotaxis beetles). Radar Love was so happy I didn’t let him drown, and even happier that I didn’t stick him with a pin and add him to the bug equivalent of a stamp collection. We hung out together for a bit and I took some photos and video to remember him by. Radar Love was released into the forest so he can make more of his kind.
Odonteus obesusOdonteus obesus
Odonteus obesusOdonteus obesus
Odonteus obesus
Location: San Juan Island
ID: Geotruipidae (Odonteus obsesus)
Special thanks to my friend, Michelle Sloan Bos and Tyler Hedlund for ID assistance with this. I was rushing to get ready for my special spider outing. More about that later. For now, enjoy this rare and exciting sighting of a most special little beetle that calls San Juan Island his home.
Bugging You From San Juan Island 