Thursday: 17 April 2008
We seem to have weathered the cold snap without problems. Temperatures dipped just below freezing on the mornings of Tue and Wed, but this morning’s low was 36 degF and lows will be much higher for the next week. I’m betting this will prove to be no problem.
Yesterday’s walk offered this flashy little moth, about the size of a hairstreak. It was very visible as it fluttered in to partake of water from the moist sand along SBS Creek. My first inclination is that this is one of the Foresters, Alypia spp., which Bugguide places in the Noctuidae Family.
However rather than the six or eight distinct spots of the so-named forester moths, this one has gone crazy on the spotting:
UPDATE: DougT id’d it as Mournful Thyris Pseudothyris sepulchralis. That’s it!
I also don’t see evidence of the bright orange leggings, but it wouldn’t cooperate in showing its nether parts so they could be hidden from view. The only look-alikes I’ve seen, and they don’t really look alike in terms of wing and body shape, or the deep black coloration, are White-spotted Sable, Anania funebris, and Grape Leaffolder, Desmia funeralis, which I’ve seen before. I doubt these are it.
Forester moths are considered to be destructive pests, but of “grape, Virginia creeper, and Boston ivy.” Well, ok, I suppose if you grow grapes this could be a problem. We have little choice in our extensive muscadine growth and the foresters can have all they want. Similarly for the Virginia creeper, though I like Virginia creeper a lot. And as far as the noxious Boston ivy, well, the foresters are our friends.
Along Goulding Creek this dragonfly caught my eye. My batting average is zero on this so far, but it looks like a Sanddragon to me, one of the Gomphids. I photographed a Common Sandragon, Progomphus obscurus, last 15 Jul 2007, but this one looks subtly different. Progomphus spp?
UPDATE: Doug suggests Ashy Clubtail Gomphus lividus, or Cocoa Clubtail Gomphus hybridus.
I did consider the possiblility of the recently observed Stream Cruiser, which Bev id’d, but I don’t think so.
I’d thought to get a closeup of the tail, but not to great effect, I’m afraid.
Yesterday’s walk offered this flashy little moth, about the size of a hairstreak. It was very visible as it fluttered in to partake of water from the moist sand along SBS Creek. My first inclination is that this is one of the Foresters, Alypia spp., which Bugguide places in the Noctuidae Family.
However rather than the six or eight distinct spots of the so-named forester moths, this one has gone crazy on the spotting:
UPDATE: DougT id’d it as Mournful Thyris Pseudothyris sepulchralis. That’s it!
I also don’t see evidence of the bright orange leggings, but it wouldn’t cooperate in showing its nether parts so they could be hidden from view. The only look-alikes I’ve seen, and they don’t really look alike in terms of wing and body shape, or the deep black coloration, are White-spotted Sable, Anania funebris, and Grape Leaffolder, Desmia funeralis, which I’ve seen before. I doubt these are it.
Forester moths are considered to be destructive pests, but of “grape, Virginia creeper, and Boston ivy.” Well, ok, I suppose if you grow grapes this could be a problem. We have little choice in our extensive muscadine growth and the foresters can have all they want. Similarly for the Virginia creeper, though I like Virginia creeper a lot. And as far as the noxious Boston ivy, well, the foresters are our friends.
Along Goulding Creek this dragonfly caught my eye. My batting average is zero on this so far, but it looks like a Sanddragon to me, one of the Gomphids. I photographed a Common Sandragon, Progomphus obscurus, last 15 Jul 2007, but this one looks subtly different. Progomphus spp?
UPDATE: Doug suggests Ashy Clubtail Gomphus lividus, or Cocoa Clubtail Gomphus hybridus.
I did consider the possiblility of the recently observed Stream Cruiser, which Bev id’d, but I don’t think so.
I’d thought to get a closeup of the tail, but not to great effect, I’m afraid.
