What is a Moth?

A presentation for National Moth WeekBy Deborah Lievens

What is a Moth?

It’s 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

Harris’s 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 12-13 cmEcuador

Chinkapin Leaf-miner Moth 5 mm

Swammerdamia 7 mm

Scientists estimate there are 150,000 to morethan 500,000 moth species

Unknown Micro 3 mm

Various Microlepidoptera

Tortricid Moths - TortricidaeBlack-patched Clepsis Moth

Three-streaked Sparganothis Moth

“The Dude”

Slug Moths - LimacodidaeJewel 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 - GeometridaePale beauty

Maple spanworm moth White –fringed Emerald

Large Lace Borer Moth White-ribboned Carpet Moth

Pale Metanema

Sphinx Moths - SphingidaeNorthern pine sphinx

Blinded sphinx

Small-eyed sphinx

Nessus 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

WWW.NATIONALMOTHWEEK.ORG

Facebook: National Moth Week National Moth Week Caterpillars Twitter: @Moth_Week

Email: info@nationalmothweek.org