Moths of Oklahoma's Journal

I've made A LOT of observations on iNat over the last 3 years. So it's not surprising that some of the creatures I have photographed happened to be in the act of mating.

Not to be perverse, but I am always happy when I come across this for a variety of reasons. One reason is that it provides an opportunity to see sexual dimorphism in plain sight since you know you are looking at a male and a female. It is easy to discern different sizes and coloration between the two genders when they are literally attached to one another.

Fall Webworm Moths (Hyphantria cunea) mating

This spring I noticed a lot of variability in the extent of black dots on Fall Webworm Moths and after I saw a couple mating I suspect that maybe sexual dimorphism is the reason. The male has more black dots than the female. I know because after this interaction the female laid her eggs.

Dimorphic Snout Moths (Hypena bijugalis) mating - observed by Rick Parker.

Garden Webworms (Achyra rantalis) mating.

The Dimorphic Snout lives up to its name: the female has strongly contrasting colors, while the male is mostly brown (two above). Garden Webworms also have some color differences between male and female (above). And there is definitely a size difference between the male and female Waterlily Leafcutter Moths (below), while the Deadwood Borer male and female look much more similar (two below).

Waterlily Leafcutter Moths (Elophila obliteralis) mating

Deadwood Borer Moths (Scolecocampa liburna) mating - observed by Rick Parker (@rdparker)

What else can we learn when we observe creatures copulating? Well, we learn a little bit about their breeding cycle. When they are breeding tells us when their most productive season of the year is - when their food is most readily available. Most birds breed in the spring in time that their eggs will hatch when their primary food source (be it earthworms, caterpillars of our beloved moths, or crawdads) are plentiful. For moths, the food source is going to be various species of plants. A moth that is found mating in early Spring or late Fall must feed on vegetation with a long growing season or could be a generalist - a species that isn't too picky about what it eats.

Clemens' Grass Tubeworms (Acrolophus popeanella) are absolutely thick this time of year (August and early September). Leah (@leahn19) and Rick (@rdparker) have both found pairs mating recently. According to bugguide, as larva this species feeds on the roots of Red Clover (Trifolium pratense). I'm guessing they feed on more than that since we find so many of these in our residential neighborhoods and there isn't any red clover growing in this area. Maybe they also feed on White Clover (Trifolium repens)?

Forest Tent Caterpillar Moths (Malacosoma disstria) mating

I've also learned a little about the speed of the life cycle of a few species of moths. I found a cocoon of a Forest Tent Caterpillar back in April and kept it in a jar until the moth eclosed. I was lucky enough to see the moth leaving the cocoon on May 24. I released the moth outdoors on the patio and just a few hours later a male moth flew in and they were mating (as seen above). Wow - that's quick! Once the mating was complete, the male's purpose was fulfilled. Once the female laid her eggs, her purpose was fulfilled. I wouldn't be surprised if they both expired shortly afterwards. Some species have very short lives as adult moths, with much longer phases as larva and pupa.

Grateful Midgets (Elaphria grata) mating - observed by Rick

The Evergreen Bagworm Moth, has a fascinating life cycle. I'm going to detail that in a future post, but will go ahead and tease you with this photo from Rick.

Evergreen Bagworm Moths (Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis) mating

I've taken to adding a tag "makin-babies" for all of my observations of mating in process. I have a total of 36 of these observations now, all of which are insects except for a pair of snakes. Maybe I should have used the tag "insex" instead. ;) While the "makin-babies" tag is kind of fun, the tag is really just a way for me to personally find those observations quickly and doesn't serve a greater purpose. What is more useful to the iNaturalist community in general is to use the Observations Fields feature of iNaturalist. When you open an observation in the webpage you will see a section on the right side of the page that says "Observation Fields." If you start typing in that box you will see a wealth of options. There are a lot of fields with the same meaning, which is a little unfortunate, but since anyone in the community can create fields that is how it is for now. The field I have been selecting is "Behavior: mating" and then selecting "yes." I would encourage you to use this same feature anytime you happen to catch some moths (or anything else) in the act!

Bluegrass Webworm Moths (Parapediasia teterrellus) mating

Southern Emerald Moths (Synchlora frondaria) mating

Finally, I'd like to feature three observations of mating moths contributed by other iNatters. Thanks to Sunshine Bush, Shaun Michael, and anhe for these observations!

Meal Moths (Pyralis farinalis) and Boxwood Leaftier Moths (Galasa nigrinodis) mating

Luna Moths (Parapediasia teterrellus) mating

One of our most common moths in Oklahoma is the Ailanthus Webworm Moth (Atteva aurea). In fact, this moth is found throughout much of the United States. But it hasn't always been so...

The original host plants of this species, Paradise Tree (Simarouba amara) and the closely related Simarouba glauca, are native to south Florida and Cuba. This was the original native range of the Ailanthus Webworm Moth. However, a closely related tree from China named the Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) has been widely introduced in North America and this moth has found it to be a perfectly good host plant as well. Therefore, the moth has spread geographically with the introduction of the Tree of Heaven. It is so closely tied to its adopted host plant that it derives its common name from that tree rather than its original host plants. If you live in Oklahoma, chances are that birds have deposited a seed of the Tree of Heaven somewhere in your neighborhood.

Paradise Tree (Simarouba amara), one of the original host plants of this moth, observed by Joshua Sands (@jcs13) in the Florida keys.

Simarouba glauca, the second original host plant of this moth, observed by Jacob Malcom (@jacobogre) in the Florida keys.

Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) observed by me in Oklahoma.

This colorful little moth catches many people's eye when they see it resting on a leaf or underneath their porch light. At first glance, most people wouldn't identify it as a moth at all. Maybe it's a gateway moth, enticing some people who would otherwise never think of themselves as interested in moths. They see the Ailanthus and just have to know what it is. Once they find out it's a moth, maybe some of those people will be interested to find out more about moths. Anyway, one could hope!

Many creatures on this planet have evolved camouflage, and moths have some of the most impressive hiding techniques out there.

Bark

Let's face it, there's a lot of brown moths. Most of these are brown because they spend the daylight hours lying still on dead leaves or on tree bark. The Underwing moths (Genus Catocala) are especially good at hiding on bark, which is important since they can be quite large and would be a nice catch for many birds. The Underwings pull off their camouflage with base colors of gray and brown overlaid with darker ruptive markings that mimic patches of bark. Here are a few outstanding examples:

Widow Underwing (Catocala vidua) and Ilia Underwing (Catocala ilia) observed by @lmm3629. Catocala sp. observed by @arrowheadspiketail58.

Sad Underwing (Catocala maestosa) observed by @kboeg; Ilia Underwing (Catocala ilia) observed by @vicfazio3.

It may be clear that these are moths perched on bark when you're looking at a cropped photo, but standing back just a foot or two it is easy to lose sight of these moths altogether and have trouble finding them again.

Sad Underwing (Catocala maestosa) observed by @lmm3629; Sad Underwing (Catocala maestosa) observed by @israels_walks.

Ilia Underwing (Catocala ilia) observed by @heytheremacie; Tearful Underwing (Catocala lacrymosa) observed by @i268021.

Of course, Underwings derive their name from their very flashy lower set of wings. I believe this flash of color is meant to startle a potential predator when the moth takes flight, helping them evade capture.

Bird droppings

This next group of moths doesn't try to blend in. Instead, these moths hide during the day by resting on leaves and pretending they're something else that happens to be seen on leaves - bird droppings. There are a surprising number of moths that use this ruse and derive their names from their form of disguise. Here are a few examples:

Small Bird-dropping Moth (Ponometia erastrioides) observed by Buddy (@salticidude)

Olive-shaded Bird-dropping Moth (Ponometia candefacta) also observed by Buddy

Notice that these first two species are from the same genus (Ponometia) in the Noctuidae family, which means they are closely related and it should be no surprise that they both evolved this clever disguise. The next species shown below is from an entirely different family of moths (Depressariidae), which shows that this trait evolved separately. This is a classic example of convergent evolution.

Schlaeger's Fruitworm Moth (Antaeotricha schlaegeri) observed by Matt (@teriyaki12)

Exposed Bird Dropping Moth (Tarache aprica) observed by Victor W. Fazio III (@vicfazio3)

While I want to focus on Oklahoma moths, I have to point out that there is even a moth in Malaysia that has patterns that look like flies overlaid on white (bird droppings). After having seen a pair of flies mating on bird droppings, this seems like a pretty good disguise.

Macrocilix maia observed by @paraggiri

Leaves

Many moths blend in well on either living or dead leaves. In fact, the Herminiinae subfamily of moths are known as "Litter Moths" because many of the caterpillars feed on dead leaves, what is known as "leaf litter." These moths are mostly triangle shaped and various shades of brown to blend in with dead leaves lying on the ground.

As yet unidentified Litter Moth observed by @strix_v and Renia sp. observed by Bill Carrell (@arrowheadspiketail58)/

Bleptina sangamonia observed by @strix_v and Speckled Renia (Renia adspergillus) observed by Emily Hjalmarson (@ehjalmarson).

Bent-winged Owlest (Bleptina caradrinalis) observed by Emily Hjalmarson and @david1415.

These next three are not from the "litter moths" subfamily, but they also evolved to mimic a dead leaf. Again, convergent evolution at play.

Red-lined Panopoda (Panopoda rufimargo) observed by Bill Carrell.

Obtuse Euchlaena Moth (Euchlaena obtusaria) observed by @strix_v.

White-dotted Prominent (Nadata gibbosa) I observed.

Looking at all of these dead leaf mimics makes me wonder if the moths are cognitively aware of their safest perching spots due to their coloration or if they are simply evolved to blend into their favorite perching spots.

Rick spotted this Green Cloverworm (Hypena scabra) blending in quite well on a dead leaf still hanging from the tree.

The beautiful Luna Moth likes to rest up in the trees among the leaves and does a great job of appearing like a leaf, even trembling in the breeze just like a leaf would. That being said, I had trouble finding an Oklahoma observation of this species clinging to a branch with leaves. Most of the observations are on the side of buildings or other structures where the moth is very conspicuous. I have two thoughts about this:

1. It sucks for the Luna that humans have introduced so many perching spots that aid predators in seeing them.
2. This is where people are seeing Luna Moths, but maybe there are lots more successfully hiding in the trees.

Luna Moths (Actias luna) observed by @anhe

Luna Moth observed among Poison Ivy by Rick

There are also a number of day-flying moths with pink and yellow colors on their wings. I assume this is mostly to blend in on flowers they may be visiting, but they also blend in rather nicely on the fallen leaves of peach trees, don't you think? I intentionally posed these two moths on these leaves from my yard to see how well the effect works.

Chickweed Geometer Moth (Haematopis grataria) posed on peach tree leaves

Southern Purple Mint Moth (Pyrausta laticlavia) posed on peach tree leaves

Other

Here are a few other miscellaneous disguises we've seen in Oklahoma, including moths perched on twigs and cinder blocks.

Green Cloverworm Moth (Hypena scabra) found on the twigs of a shrub

Brown-shaded Gray (Iridopsis defectaria) perched on a cinder block

As I pointed out in the last blog post, you can apply Observation Fields to your observations to make them even more useful. One relevant Observation Field for this discussion is "Camouflage." When you select this field you will be provided with a drop down box to select how good (in your opinion) the camouflage is. I have been filling in this field on my observations of camouflaged critters.