We are trying a new way of organizing our projects this year that enables better downloading of data from each year of National Moth Week! With this new format, we have a single global project rather than one for each location under an umbrella project. This way, we plan to have an umbrella project including each year of National Moth Week.

We understand that you may want to have totals and summaries for your own location, however, and we encourage you to create a project for your region! There are already projects for all provinces in Canada, Washington State, and Colombia, among others! Be sure to also check out NMW member Roger Kendrick’s project, Moths of Asia, that is not just for NMW, but has an amazing selection of moths. Just download the NMW logo below and create your own event using the template “National Moth Week _insert location here_ 2020”.

Don’t forget to register a private event if you are uploading to iNaturalist – even if you are just looking at moths near lights outside!

Over the course of the week, 3,548 species wee observed and 1,502 community members helped 5,088 iNaturalist users identify their moths. 61% of observations have research grade distinction, meaning that they are deposited as records in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)! Check out the observation totals by continent, country, and states/provinces below!

In the United States alone, 2,031 species were observed for the week, which is incredible considering there are 12,776 species described from North America north of Mexico! This means that 15.9% of all moths described from this region were observed only in one week!

The National Moth Week team urges you to contribute to science and biodiversity inventories by submitting your National Moth Week findings to iNaturalist! Our 2019 project can be found here and any submissions made for the dates of NMW 2019 (July 21-29) will be included in the project!

Register for NMW here.

During NMW 2018, a variety of moths were spotted on Project Noah throughout the world! Here are a few of our favorites below:

Project Noah has a new user interface! Check out the updated website and submit your moths to the Moths of the World mission today!

Register for National Moth Week 2019 here.

Any moths you submit to iNaturalist during National Moth Week will be automatically added to the National Moth Week 2018 project! Be sure to check if any regional partners have projects you can manually add your observations to. These partners are listed below with their project descriptions.

• Hong Kong Moths – add moth observations from Hong Kong here to help document the moth species in Hong Kong, as well as their distribution and abundance within Hong Kong, with an aim to assess the conservation status of each species.
• Moths of Spain – add moth observations to help the Spanish Association for the Protection of Butterflies and their Environment (ZERYNTHIA) collect information on the distribution of moths. This project also collaborates with European Moth Nights.
• Vermont Atlas of Life – add moth observations to help discover, map, and monitor life across Vermont.

Click here to register your mothing and be part of National Moth Week 2018

From Project Noah:

The Isabella tiger moth (Pyrrharctia isabella) is a tiger moth very common in North America. Subjected to a temperate climate, the caterpillars, known as banded woolly bears, overwinter as caterpillars before turning into a pupa in the spring, the stage of development right before coming a moths. Since the caterpillars are exposed to relatively harsh temperatures in the winter, this species has become somewhat tolerant to short-term freezing periods in which the entire caterpillar is frozen and it thaws out. Longer-term freezing periods however can be harmful.

This moth is also the subject of some folklore in which it is said that the amount of the brown on the band determines the length of the forthcoming winter. This however, is just folklore and not scientifically based.

National Moth Week is from July 22-30. Are you participating? Please register a public or private event here: http://nationalmothweek.org/register-a-nmw-event-2017/, especially if your country or region isn’t on the map yet!

Don’t forget to submit photos of moths you spot here!

http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/8841449

Read more about the Isabella tiger moth’s ability to tolerate freezing as a larva here.

From Project Noah:

Some tiger moths have glands that emit toxins when threatened. Many of these tiger moths are known in Australia as “frothers” for the bubbly toxins that come out of their thorax.

National Moth Week is from July 22-30. Are you participating? Please register a public or private event here: http://nationalmothweek.org/register-a-nmw-event-2017/, especially if your country or region isn’t on the map yet!

Don’t forget to submit photos of moths you spot here!

http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/8841449

From Project Noah:

Some tiger moths are excellent mimics of the order Hymenoptera, which includes ants, bees, sawflies, and wasps. They even have evolved a narrower abdomen and lost scales on some wings to mimic the narrow waist present in many hymenopterans, resulting in excellent wasp and ant mimics.

National Moth Week is from July 22-30. Are you participating? Please register a public or private event here: http://nationalmothweek.org/register-a-nmw-event-2017/, especially if your country or region isn’t on the map yet!

Don’t forget to submit photos of moths you spot here!

http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/8841449

From Project Noah:

Yesterday we discussed the ability of some tiger moth species to jam bat sonar. Some tiger moths are also very chemically defended. Some moths may sequester toxic plant chemicals, while others break down toxic chemicals found in their host plants and create new toxins for defense. Many organisms that are chemically defended also have aposematic, or warning coloration to indicate to predators that they are chemically defended.

The Cinnabar moth (Tyria jacobeae) is a moth which is chemically defended and aposematically colored, meaning it has warning coloration. It is native to Europe but was introduced in Oregon where is has been a successful biocontrol agent in the management of the invasive tansy ragwort.

National Moth Week is from July 22-30. Are you participating? Please register a public or private event here: http://nationalmothweek.org/register-a-nmw-event-2017/, especially if your country or region isn’t on the map yet!

Don’t forget to submit photos of moths you spot here!

http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/8841449

Read more about efforts to use the Cinnabar moth to control the invasive tansy ragwort here.

In honor of this year’s focus on tiger moths, our partner, citizen science website Project Noah, will be featuring a fun fact about the tiger moths (Erebidae: Arctiinae) during National Moth Week.

From Project Noah:

Moths are constantly under the threat of predation by bats, and have evolved defenses to avoid this. Some tiger moths, such as this beautiful Bertholdia trigona, can emit clicking sounds to jam the sonar of bats, allowing them to disappear long enough to escape predation (Corcoran et al. 2011). The clicks are emitted from structures called tymbal organs.

National Moth Week is from July 22-30. Are you participating? Please register a public or private event here: http://nationalmothweek.org/register-a-nmw-event-2017/, especially if your country or region isn’t on the map yet!

Don’t forget to submit photos of moths you spot here!

http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/8841449

Read more about the Corcoran et al. study referenced above here.

The Philippines is a tropical country and the National Moth Week celebration in July falls during the summer monsoon season which brings heavy rains to most of the archipelago. This however does not dampen our enthusiasm to celebrate this event.  Each year Philippine Lepidoptera, Inc. (PhiLep) sponsors moth watching and photography events in Baguio City at the highlands of the Cordillera. But why in Baguio City?

Though highly urbanized, Baguio City is situated at an altitude of approximately 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) in the Luzon tropical pine forests ecoregion conducive for the growth of mossy plants and trees that are host to a variety of lepidopterans.  Moths are naturally bountiful and attracted to the lights of a mall in the city, hence there is no need to set up sophisticated moth light traps.  Moths cling to nearby plants and walls in the morning before they are predated upon by birds and lizards.

To celebrate the annual National Moth Week in 2016, Cordilleran’s Photo Sharing (CPS) Facebook group members with Rey M. Abellada representing Philippine Lepidoptera as coach did a moth search photo walk. This was registered with National Moth Week 2016. Rain was heavy in the early morning but still they proceeded with the photo walk when the rain abated.  Philippine Lepidoptera (PhiLep) T-shirts, key chains and book markers were given to participants and guests.

Follow Philippine Lepidoptera and their adventures on Facebook or on their website.