The past few moth nights in Ann Arbor

In late August we had a moth night at Black Pond Woods. We had a large group of people and some interesting insects.

We had three sheets set up and the “lighthouse.” The “lighthouse” is an Ikea portable wardrobe with the Lep-led inside with a power source. The jakery power source will last all night if necessary. But with the moth nights we are only there for approximately 3 hours which includes set up and take down.

The “green-themed” insects – a lacewing, a leaf-hopper and a Wavy-lined emerald (moth).

Now, on to the “brown-themed” moths.

An ermine moth on the left and an ailanthus web-worm moth on the right.

And finally, a mantispidfly, which is in the order Neuroptera and is quite uncommon.

In early September we did a moth night at the DeVine Preserve.

We had a small, but very enthusiastic group of people which lead to some interesting results.

While the moths were rather sparse, the caterpillars were amazing. The moth on the left is a hickory tussock moth which is rather common in areas with hickories. The moth on the right is a white-marked tussock moth.

Then there were two exciting to find slug moths. An saddle-backed caterpiller moth is on the left. A crowned slug moth is on the right.

And finally a caterpillar of a walnut sphinx.

And finally the last moth night of the year at the NAP Headquarters at South Pond. We had a total of 24 people attend, which unfortunately out-numbered the number of different insects that we had.

Included in the 24 attendees were members of the Entomology Club that meets at the University of Michigan.

And that’s how the last three moth nights of 2024 went. We’re already looking forward to more next year.