Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Unnamed spotting

Description:

Very pretty moth(?)

Habitat:

It was hanging out in the shade on the outside doorframe of my office.

Notes:

The insect is about 1.25" long.

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

4 Comments

DaniKisso
DaniKisso 12 years ago

Hi Jena. This looks like a birch moth of some sort. (Aethalura punctulata or Ectropis crepuscularia) which are normally found in Europe and North America feeding on birch trees. We studied them in population genetics. During the industrial age, many birch trees in England were covered in soot. The gray moths that rested on them became visible to the birds and were quickly preyed upon leaving only the darker moths to survive. It was noted that after a few generations the moth population turned almost exclusively black due to selection pressure exerted by the birds. After the Industrial revolution, the birch trees lost the soot and turned grey again and so the birds started preying on the black moths. This caused the moth population to revert back to the original gray colour. Due to their short lives and fast reproductive rates, insects can exhibit some wonderful examples of evolution that cannot be observed in larger animals.

Dangermouse
Dangermouse 12 years ago

Great shot from a phone! :) Now you know how good the photos are, you can take more. :)

iena
iena 12 years ago

Thanks! I was really blown away by how well the camera on my phone worked. I expected a vaguely insectoid blur! It is just such a gorgeous moth.

Dangermouse
Dangermouse 12 years ago

Definitely a moth. Not sure on American species, though, only European ones. If it was spotted where I am, I'd lean toward something like dark arches (apamea monoglypha) but the only thing I can be sure of is it's a moth. :) Good spotting, though!

iena
Spotted by
iena

Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Spotted on Aug 23, 2011
Submitted on Aug 23, 2011

Nearby Spottings

Spotting Ducks Eastern Gray Squirrel Spotting
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team