Project Noah National Moth Week 2014 Recap

Project Noah celebrated National Moth Week in 2014 by promoting users to contribute to the official National Moth Week mission, Moths of the World. Over the course of National Moth Week, users from 34 countries documented 2197 moths in the form of spottings, up from 1347 spottings in 2013, and 684 the year before.

Project Noah users who submitted spottings to the Moths of the World mission during National Moth Week were awarded a virtual National Moth Week 2014 patch, visible below.

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For a Google spreadsheet including the raw data, as well as continent and country totals and a list of the species observed for whole continents, please visit this link: https://goo.gl/PmgLwF

Below, you can view an interactive Google map with all spottings plotted according to their latitude-longitude coordinates.

Below are some highlights of National Moth Week 2014 from around the world. Project Noah users observed some absolutely beautiful moths, including some from the Sphingidae family—our spotlight family this year!

South America

Project Noah users in South America shared some absolutely beautiful tropical specialties, such as the Eumorpha labruscae and the Dyspteris deminutaria below. The gorgeous Eumorpha labruscae from the Sphingidae family is a wonderful segue into this year’s National Moth Week celebrations.

Total Spotting Counts by Continent/Country
South America 12
Brazil 5
Colombia 6
Trinidad and Tobago 1
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Gaudy Sphinx (Eumorpha labruscae), spotted in Brazil by Project Noah user rubens.luciano.
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Dyspteris moth (Dyspteris deminutaria), spotted in Trinidad and Tobago by Project Noah user celestialprincess101.

Europe

Project Noah users in Europe posted from a wide array of countries, with the highest participation in United Kingdom, Spain, and Serbia. The Sphingidae family was also well-represented in Europe by the striking pink and gold Deilephila porcellus!

Total Spotting Counts by Continent/Country
Europe 101
United Kingdom 29
Spain 22
Serbia 17
Greece 9
Belgium 5
Croatia 5
Austria 4
Germany 3
Netherlands 3
Bosnia and Herzegovina 2
Italy 2
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Small Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila porcellus), spoted in Serbia by user IvanPancic.

Asia

I would particularly like to commend the wonderful folks at Philippine Lepidoptera, who in managing a website, several social media accounts and groups, as well as a Project Noah account and mission, contributed greatly to the surge of moths spotted in Asia, specifically the Philippines, during National Moth Week. A summary of their 2014 results can be found here. It is absolutely amazing to see a community of both amateur and professional lepidopterists blossom. As a result of their dedication, the number of moths spotted during National Moth Week from the Philippines have risen from 6 in 2012, to 17 in 2013, to a whopping 342 (exactly half of ALL moths spotted during National Moth Week in 2012) in 2014.

Total Spotting Count by Continent/Country
Asia 555
Philippines 342
Malaysia 85
Bhutan 77
Sri Lanka 29
India 17
Singapore 2
Indonesia 1
Nepal 1
Thailand 1
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Moon Moth (Actias philippinica), spotted by Project Noah user LindaAlisto.
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Agaristine Moth (Mimeusemia semyron), spotted by Project Noah user Noel Buensuceso.

Africa

Two of the four countries submitting spottings to Project Noah for National Moth Week in 2014 were new additions! We were excited to welcome their participation. South Africa was the highest performing country in the continent, despite the winter season in the Southern Hemisphere.

Total Spotting Counts by Continent/Country
Africa 24
South Africa 15
Uganda 6
Mauritius 2
Nigeria 1
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Erebid moth (Trigonodes hyppasia), spotted by Project Noah user GeoffreySummers.

Australia

Australia also saw some beautiful moths, such as the Argina astraea seen below. Much like Africa, the continent saw relatively high participation considering the winter season!

Total Spotting Counts by Continent/Country
Australia (continent) 26
Australia (country) 25
New Zealand 1
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Crotalaria Pod Borer moth (Argina astraea), spotted by Project Noah user LeanneGardner .

North America

North America saw the highest participation, with users from the United States of America submitting 1386 spottings—39 more than ALL spottings submitted during 2013!

Total Spotting Counts by Continent/Country
North America 1480
United States of America 1386
Mexico 44
Canada 34
Costa Rica 15
Puerto Rico 1
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Hieroglyphic moth (Diphthera festiva), spotted by Project Noah user LuisStevens.
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Small-eyed Sphinx (Paonias myops), spotted by Project Noah user StirredMocha.
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Silver-spotted Fern moth (Callopistria cordata), spotted by Project Noah user Fyn Kynd.
Countries New to Project Noah National Moth Week in 2014
Mauritius
Nepal
Puerto Rico
Serbia
Singapore
Trinidad and Tobago
Uganda

We thoroughly enjoyed all of the Project Noah spottings from every country for National Moth Week 2014, and we hope to see even more countries participating this year, as well as a surge in participation for countries who have previously celebrated with us. Our next milestone goal is 3,000 spottings—a goal we can perhaps attain this year!

Celebrate National Moth Week by contributing to one of our many worldwide, regional, or country-based organizations. Click on the leaf below to visit and learn more about Project Noah.

A reminder: National Moth Week 2015 is just around the corner! Registration is available here.

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Project Noah is a citizen science project mobilizing new generations of nature explorers and helping people around the world appreciate their local wildlife. The ‘Noah’ in Project Noah stands for networked organisms and habitats. Project Noah aims to harness the power and popularity of new mobile technologies to promote wildlife awareness, collect important ecological data, and help preserve global biodiversity by contributing wildlife sightings in the form of spottings.

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