Urban mothing

I recently was in the market for a new insect net and found myself checking out the Bioquip website. Upon purchasing the net I figured that I would buy a self-ballasted black light bulb as well, since they were on sale and they could ship it with the net. Black lights produce ultraviolet (UV) light, which is within part of the spectrum that is very attractive to a variety of insect species.

Yesterday afternoon the light arrived and so I decided to give it a shot, screwing it into the socket for the back porch light. I pinned a white sheet to the nearby side of the house and turned it on to see what critters I could find after dark. Given the location of the light socket, the resulting black light was not very visible to anything that wasn't in the immediate backyard and so I kept my expectations very low.

Mothing setup - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Those who have been to our house in Niagara Falls can attest to the fact that it is not a great yard for wildlife. We are located in the middle of a pretty standard neighbourhood, surrounded in all directions by houses, and with green space rather limited. Most of the vegetation within the general vicinity of our house includes standard street trees, landscaped bushes and manicured lawns. We have not done anything to improve the native species diversity in our backyard since we are renting and are only here for a short time. However, the world of insects is incredibly diverse and even in this heavily modified landscape there were a few surprises that appeared at the light, during my first trial run last night. Most of the species that showed are commonly found in the surrounding area or are introduced from Europe, but I was still pretty impressed with the diversity during my first few hours of trying out the new light.

The first moths to appear after dark were Gypsy Moths. This species was deliberately introduced from Europe in the late 1860s and is now spread across eastern North America. It is notorious for its ability in defoliating leaves which weakens and can even kill trees.

Gypsy Moth - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Gypsy Moth - Niagara Falls, Ontario

The Green Cloverworm is another widespread species that I have commonly seen on the few occasions I have done dedicated mothing. One showed up at the sheet last night.

Green Cloverworm Moth - Niagara Falls, Ontario

A single Bent-Line Carpet was one of the first moths I noted. It remained in the exact same location for the entire evening. Bent-line Carpets feed on a variety of species including smartweed and knotweed. Both of these plants are common in the neighbourhood so it is not a surprise that Bent-line Carpets are here.

Bent-line Carpet - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Within half an hour of turning on the light, hundreds of caddisflies (I think) appeared. They remained throughout the evening, being by far the most numerous group of insects. Below is the only one that I photographed, species unknown.

Unidentified caddisfly - Niagara Falls, Ontario

After the caddisflies, various midges were the next most common insects on the sheet. I have no idea where to begin to identify this one!

Chironomus sp. - Niagara Falls, Ontario

A Neotibicen cicada was a nice surprise. I have tentatively identified this one as Linne's Cicada due to its large size and noticeable curve in the wing, as opposed to Dog-Day Cicada which is very similar looking and also found in the area.

Linne's Cicada - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Linne's Cicada - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Linn's Cicada - Niagara Falls, Ontario

These small beetles were relatively common - I probably saw six or eight of them - and I believe they are called Asian Garden Beetles (Maladera castanea). Introduced from the Old World, this species is also relatively widespread in eastern North America but it ranges just south of Ontario. There is only one other report from Ontario on iNaturalist (that is, if I identified it correctly).

Asian Garden Beetle - Niagara Falls, Ontario

The relationship between the vegetation species present and the resulting insects is quite interesting; each moth species for instance has a particular food plant (or plants) that its larvae eat. With experience it is possible to predict what will likely show up at a moth light just by looking at the surrounding vegetation species and knowing the time of year. This tiny moth is a Cottonwood Twig Borer. It likely grew up on the Eastern Cottonwoods about five houses down from our house.

Cottonwood Twig Borer - Niagara Falls, Ontario

The next species prefers maples, but its larvae will eat a variety of tree species. As the night wore on the Lesser Maple Spanworms become the second or third most common species of moth.

Lesser Maple Spanworm - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Not every moth was a shade or brown, gray or white. The Ailanthus Webworm is a spectacular moth with vivid patterning. Adults are commonly seen during the day nectaring on plants such as goldenrod but they will come to lights at night. I wonder if this one came over from the Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus) growing in the backyard.

Ailanthus Webworm - Niagara Falls, Ontario

The next species is a Spring Dead-leaf Roller Moth, a specialist of dead leaves as the name implies. They prefer ashes and oaks. 

Spring Dead-leaf Roller Moth - Niagara Falls, Ontario

The most common moth at the sheet last night was a small, intricately patterned species known as the Two-banded Petrophila Moth, a new one for me. The larval form of this species feeds on diatoms and algae which is scrapes from rocks!

Two-banded Petrophila Moth - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Two-banded Petrophila Moth - Niagara Falls, Ontario

I noted two individuals of another Petrophila species. This is the Canadian Petrophila Moth. 

Canadian Petrophila - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Some other "non-moths" appeared as the evening wore on as well. This is a type of assassin bug called a Masked Hunter (Reduvius personatus). It is an introduced species from Europe that supposedly has a nasty bite if incorrectly handled. 

Masked Hunter - Niagara Falls, Ontario

This is a plant bug in the genus Neolygus, and which has been identified on iNaturalist as Neolygus vitticollis. This is the first report of this species from Ontario on iNaturalist (if the identification is correct).

Neolygus vitticollis - Niagara Falls, Ontario

The next insect is a type of damsel bug known as Nabis roseipennis. Damsel bugs are generalist hunters that will catch any insect that they can overpower. They grab prey items with their front legs, similar to how a mantis hunts. Damsel bugs are generally considered helpful insects for agriculture since they often prey on crop pests.

Nabis roseipennis - Niagara Falls, Ontario

 I have a soft spot for longhorn beetles so I made sure to get some photos of this unusual one that I did not recognize. It appears to be Ecyrus dasycerus which is found throughout eastern North America. This is also only the second Ontario report on iNaturalist.

Ecyrus dasycerus - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Back to moths! The next few were ones I had never seen before.

Gem Moth - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Maple Bud Borer Moth - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Small Baileya Moth - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Mottled Grass-Veneer - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Yellow-fringed Dolichomia Moth - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Later on (at around 1:30 in the morning) these spectacular moths began appearing - four in total. It is called the Painted Lichen Moth and, as its name implies, the larvae feed on various species of lichens.

Painted Lichen Moth - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Painted Lichen Moth - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Some of the smaller moths I was unable to identify including the two pictured below.

Unidentified twirler moth (family Gelechiidae) - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Unidentified moth - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Plume moths are a favorite of mine. Upon first inspection it is hard to believe that these hang-glider look-a-likes are actually moths! This one is a Morning-glory Plume Moth. 

Morning Glory Plume Moth - Niagara Falls, Ontario

An Elegant Grass-Veneer, one of the more common crambid moths.

Elegant Grass-Veneer - Niagara Falls, Ontario

I will finish with three more non-moths. First up, a water scavenger beetle called Tropisternus lateralis, then an unidentified Stragania leafhopper, and finishing with a crane fly called Nephrotoma alterna.

Tropisternus lateralis - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Stragania sp. - Niagara Falls, Ontario

Nephrotoma alterna - Niagara Falls, Ontario

The diversity of our natural world is incredible, even in a human-altered environment such as an urban backyard. I am excited to check the sheet during most evenings to see what else I can document.

This week is also National Moth Week on iNaturalist, which is being held worldwide from July 20-28. Simply submit any moth sightings from that time frame to iNaturalist and it will be curated into the project (https://inaturalist.ca/projects/national-moth-week-2019). Last year, Ontario led the pack in total observations, observers, and species reported. Hopefully we can repeat that this year!