Choreutis Sexfaciella - metalmark moth

Earlier this month, I found an interesting moth in my yard that I hadn't seen before. Of course, I reached out to my Wild Women friends and asked for ID help. These ladies, who are always a wealth of information, tagged another iNat user for more help and now I'm fully engrossed in observing, catching, and trying to video this little moth which I am now seeing quite regularly.

The first observation took several days to sort out and after finally learning what it was, I saw that someone had an interest in collecting one since it is a non-native moth from across the world. The next day, out in my yard, one of these little cuties flew right in front of me and landed on a Camellia plant. I was able to get a container and collect it. Since then I have been able to collect 4 specimens, three of which are in the freezer awaiting transportation to the CDFA in Sacramento. Meanwhile, the fourth one is now in a larger container with some various foliage and flowers to see if it might exhibit any egg-laying behaviors (if it is a female).

I have also ventured into my neighbors yard (with permission) to examine and photograph the mission fig tree there looking for potential damage done by these moths in their caterpillar state. Those photos were sent to Sacramento and then shared with the world authority on this moth in Finland. Eagerly awaiting word from there.

Oh, and one last point: at first I was intending to share these specimens with an iNat user who I was not acquainted with, but realized he was not in California nor was he affiliated with any regulatory/government agency. I decided I didn't feel comfortable sending it to a collector, no matter their intention. I then reached out to our friends at NHMLA and was put in touch with a very nice contact at CDFA in Sacramento and that is who I am regularly in contact with now.

Citizen/community science at its finest, don't you think?!

Needless to say, what a fun task to do during this lockdown time :)

Publicado el septiembre 30, 2020 06:44 TARDE por scubabruin scubabruin

Comentarios

Laura, Thanks for sharing this with us! It's always cool to feel like you're making a contribution to citizen science. It does seem that there are an awful lot of exotic non-native insects all over the Los Angeles area, probably because we have so many non-native exotic plants that people plant.

Publicado por naturephotosuze hace más de 3 años

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