Moth Munching

[Digger]

I've been getting a better harvest of small moths around my deck incandescent light of late.

Tonight I chose a particularly pretty gold/brown/beige beauty - with tufted fore-legs for Emerald's dinner.

Nature frequently provides a warning via outstanding coloration to stay away or be poisoned ! Has anyone run across a moth meal that murdered a mantis?

 

[agent A]

i put a polyphemus moth in a cage with a presub hierodula once

the moth knocked over the mantis whilst molting

does that count??

 

[Mime454]

Nope. I feed all kinds of moths and have never had an issue.

 

[Sticky]

I never had a mantis die but my mantids will not have anything to do with the banded tussack moth, Halysidota tessellaris. Its atan moth with delicate lines on the wings and 2-3 teal/blue lines on the thorax.

Bad tasting fluid/bubbles come from the thorax. They will maybe start a bite to the wings but then they drop it. I caught three tonight in my moth trap. They went back outside!

 

[Digger]

I never had a mantis die but my mantids will not have anything to do with the banded tussack moth, Halysidota tessellaris. Its atan moth with delicate lines on the wings and 2-3 teal/blue lines on the thorax.

Bad tasting fluid/bubbles come from the thorax. They will maybe start a bite to the wings but then they drop it. I caught three tonight in my moth trap. They went back outside!

I'd love to be able to identify the various moth visitors to my deck. But I've yet to find a way to do it. Tried lots of databases, including bug guide, but there are just too many. Any advice on pinpointing identification?

 

[Sticky]

Digger: Caterpillars of Eastern North America is a wonderful book by David L. Wagner. It is a Princeton field guide. I think also there is also a good Perterson Guide to moths. I got it from amazon.

The pictures are photos and are clear and easy to see. The Peterson Guides pictures are painted. If it is as nice as thier bird guide, they should be beautiful. They show more moths that the Princeton guide.

 

[Sticky]

Digger, have you tried the book mentioned above or found a better one? How has your moth catch been lately? Im starting to see lots of little ones. Great for small mantids.