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I found this little one way back in September, it was at my porch light. I sent the photos in to the "Mothing in Massachusetts" facebook group:

photo Screen Shot 2015-10-04 at 10.51.52 AM_zpstsq5xaps.png

photo Screen Shot 2015-10-04 at 10.51.52 AM_zpstsq5xaps.png

I know two of the people involved, so I'm not too offended. What's going on here I think is that I requested an ID for a super common, super boring, easy to identify moth. What can I say? I'm a beginner when it comes to leps. This cutworm moth Nephelodes minians* is found across the continent. It's larva feeds on grasses, which humans have helpfully planted by the thousands of square miles, everywhere in North America, even places that won't support them without great human effort.

*"Nephelodes" refers to the moth's resemblance to dark clouds. "Minians" has nothing to do with one-eyed twinkies, despite Google's insistence.

Current Music: Baroness - The Line Between

Noctua pronuba photo IMG_0026_zps3gr0prhr.jpg

For much of the moth night, this was the largest and most impressive moth at the light. But the moth experts (coolbugs, eumorphadream, and a guy named Kirk) kept looking at it and saying, oh that. Because it was the biggest moth there, every new person who encountered it said hey what's that big one?? And the moth experts would say, oh that. It's a "large yellow underwing" Noctua pronuba.* Why the disappointed reaction? They seemed excited at the prospect of other "underwings" showing up.

This underwing is an introduced invasive pest, an entirely different genus from North American underwings. This one has actually appeared on this journal before--but as a caterpillar. As a larva it is a garden pest called a cutworm--a caterpillar that overwinters, waking in spring to march across the waking earth cutting all the new growth down to nothing. Still it's kind of pretty as a moth.

* Night owl for the bride