What is a Moth? A presentation for National Moth Week By Deborah Lievens

What is a Moth? Its an Arthropod - an invertebrate animal with an exoskeleton - a segmented body - jointed appendages

MOTHS are Insects (Class Insecta) - 3 body regions, 3 pairs of legs on the thorax, 2 pairs of wings and 1 pair of antennae

MOTHs are in order Lepidoptera having: - 4 membranous wings covered with scales made of chitin

- a long coiled proboscis for sucking liquid food

- a caterpillar-like larval form and - it undergoes complete metamorphosis: egg, larva, pupa (chrysalis in butterflies), adult

An important difference between moths and butterflies is in the antennae Harriss Checkerspot Painted Lichen Moth clubbed not clubbed

Kinds of Moth Antennae Bipectinate Filiform Pectinate

So maybe moths are night flying butterflies and butterflies are day flying moths. The French and Spanish have only one word: Papillion and Mariposa Hodges system gives numbers to all moths in North America north of Mexico and butterflies are in the middle between microlepidoptera and macrolepidoptera.

Microlepidoptera: tend to be small, concealed feeders: leaf miners, borers, leaf rollers, or creators of plant galls very host specific usually fly at night primitive (as in early in the development of Lepidoptera) or primitive macros Wings held flat or tented Antennae filiform

Butterflies : Usually day flyers Hold wings closed over bodies, mostly Antennae clubbed

Macrolepidoptera Usually night flyers Wings held flat or tented (exceptions) Antennae filiform or pectinate External feeders Feeding habits are general

Moths come in ALL sizes Rothschildia Silkmoth probably cm Ecuador Chinkapin Leaf-miner Moth 5 mm Swammerdamia 7 mm Scientists estimate there are 150,000 to more than 500,000 moth species Unknown Micro 3 mm

Various Microlepidoptera

Tortricid Moths - Tortricidae Black-patched Clepsis Moth Three-streaked Sparganothis Moth The Dude

Slug Moths - Limacodidae Jewel Tailed Slug Moth Yellow-shouldered Slug Moth Spiny Oak Slug Moth and caterpillar

Pyralid Moths - Pyralidae Drab Condylolomia Moth Orange Tufted Oneida Moth The Bee Moth

Plume Moths - Pterophoridae Artichoke Plume Moth Grape Plume Moth Morning Glory Plume Moth

Various Macrolepidoptera

Geometers - Geometridae Pale beauty Maple spanworm moth White –fringed Emerald Large Lace Borer Moth White-ribboned Carpet Moth Pale Metanema

Sphinx Moths - Sphingidae Northern pine sphinx Blinded sphinx Small- eyed sphinx Nessus sphinx

Prominent Moths - Notodontidae White dotted prominent Chocolate prominent Black-rimmed prominent

Lichen Moths - Arctiidae Painted lichen moth Isabella Moth Virgin tiger moth Banded tussock moth

Bird Dropping Moths – various sub families Pink- barred Pseudostrotia Owl-Eyed Bird Dropping Moth Black-dotted Glyph Tufted Bird Dropping Moth Green Leuconycta

Concepts: Camoflage

Moths of Ecuador

The End

Facebook: National Moth Week National Moth Week Caterpillars