National Moth Week ended July 25 with over 1000 registrations from India!! In the 10^th year of this global initiative, National Moth Week saw unprecedented participation from the different corners of the country.

As the country coordinator for India, I had equal fun in arranging the event and also encouraging people through articles and interviews. Moth-ers of different ages and backgrounds came together and shared their enthusiasm to document moths in their backyards, or by hosting public events. This year, during this week we had uncommon spells of rain in different parts of the country, which put some plans on hold but couldn’t dampen the moth-ing spirit.

Two of Indian Citizen-science portals announced prizes for the top contributors to incentivize the effort people put in this global initiative. In spite of the bad weather and the full moon, there were a large number of observations put up in each of the portals.

 India Biodiversity Portal  had 2126 observations of 664 taxa. 69 users registered, with 58 uploaders and 52 identifiers

Here is a map of observations

Moths of India, a peer-reviewed portal, saw observations of 750, of which 450 were peer-reviewed and uploaded on the website,  by about 30 observers.

Here is a map of observations:

iNaturalist, as a part of DiversityIndia had 8274 records, 1045 taxa with 589 observers and 200 identifiers

Here is a map

I can’t thank the people enough who volunteered, including those who translated the NMW fliers into 21 languages and those who participated in each step of the event, making it reach more people and countries than ever before. Looking forward to next year with much more enthusiasm!

Guest blog by Dhruv Rungta

I stepped out of Dad’s car and spritzed myself with bug spray. While I was fascinated by insects, I was definitely not a bug person. Not yet, at least. I was simply at the National Moth Week event in East Brunswick, New Jersey, USA, because I liked learning new things. The thought of thousands of winged creatures–moths and not–swarming around special UV lighting was awesome and terrifying at the same time. I was looking forward to seeing some cool things, but hopefully not have any of them land on me, so I continued to douse myself with bug spray. 

            After a few more minutes of this, I grabbed my flashlight and walked towards the meeting point and was delighted to see dozens of nature enthusiasts gathered. There were scout troops, scientists, students, general enthusiasts, and even Mayor Brad Cohen of East Brunswick and New Jersey Assemblyman Sterley Stanley engaged in lively conversations about moths.

I caught up with Liti Haramaty, the co-founder of moth night, who I had worked with for a research project on amphibians. She explained how moths can see wavelengths of light we cannot see, including UV, and for reasons not wholly known to scientists, they are attracted to it. I eagerly listened as she told me fascinating facts about moths. I asked if I could do anything to help, and she handed me a ziplock bag containing a special moth attracting concoction. It’s made with overripe bananas, rotting tomatoes and fermented wine, she said. Belch… I thought! It smelled just as bad as it sounded, the same pungent odor of finding an apple in the fridge you forgot about. My job was to hold this bag while younger scouts used paint brushes to apply it to the tree to attract the moths. 

            Soon, dozens of little children rushed to me with paint brushes in their hands to dip into my bag. In their excitement, and being little kids, they messily dipped their brushes, resulting in this sticky solution spilling all over my arms, legs and shoes. And then it hit me, quite literally. All sorts of insects were now landing on me! This fermenting liquid had overridden the gallons of bug spray I put on myself. Oh no, this can’t be happening, I thought. At first I was nervous, but then as one cool moth landed on me, I started enjoying it! I was turning into a bug person, quite literally!

            This continued for the next few hours, as we enthusiastically identified beetles, flies, moths and more over the light sheets, baited trees and me. Overall, it was a phenomenal experience for everyone involved. It was marvelous seeing people fall in love with these terrific insects and the community gathering together. I cannot say thank you enough to everyone involved for creating this movement and leading the night! 

Dhruv Rungta is a rising senior at JP Stevens High School. Edison, who aspires to be an environmental lawyer. He has previously volunteered with the Friends of the East Brunswick Environmental Commission’s Salamander Protection Program.

A total of 135 species of moths were identified, including 4 new for the High Park Moth Study, bringing the study’s all-time total to 1028 species! This citizen science project began in 2016 and broke through the 1000 species mark earlier this season. For more about the study, see Meet the Mothia, in the Toronto Star.

This year’s moth night also brought out a good variety of other insects, particularly leafhoppers and small beetles.

High Park, Toronto is a large urban park (161 ha, about 400 acres) with diverse habitats including a globally rare black oak savannah. For more information about the park see highparknature.org. Our public Moth Night event has been held annually for about two decades in partnership with the Toronto Entomologists’ Association, the High Park Nature Centre, High Park Nature and more recently the High Park Moth Study group. We look forward to hosting another public event next year.

So why register your moth “event” for National Moth Week. What is the significance?

In short – every single observation counts, by contributing to the “bigger picture”.

How??

Citizen science is not new – collection of moth data and bird data from observers in the United Kingdom has taken place for several hundred years. The internet has revolutionized the process, though, through citizen science portals / apps that make it easier than it has ever been to photograph an observation and submit it, along with the location and time-stamp, to a portal for collating biological data. These collated data are then checked for accuracy, usually by researchers, or by dedicated volunteers, and once verified, can become part of a project run by researchers looking at (e.g.) changes in species distribution over time, changes in species phenology (e.g. when they occur and in what life stage they occur, or when they flower, or something like when the first cuckoo call of spring happens each year). Only by aggregating data from many sources can projects tackle big (regional, national, international or global) issues, such as how species are responding to changes in the landscape globally.

Let me give you one example that I have been involved with. I run a number of recording projects on iNaturalist, one of which is for moths that are found in Hong Kong. Data is provided by many people, some of whom contribute thousands of observations, some contribute just a few observations. All together, the distribution and coverage is far better than I could ever achieve on my own, and gives me a much better idea about _which_ species should receive greater attention for conservation action. I teamed up with academics from The University of Hong Kong to look at other questions, one of which was “is climate change impacting moths in Hong Kong”, to which the answer is “probably” – with different species responding in different, sometimes unexpected ways. Some species were shifting their distribution uphill, a few the other way, some not shifting significantly at all and some shifting their distribution northwards, i.e. tropical species arriving in subtropical Hong Kong in the last few decades, just as is happening with many species shifting distributions elsewhere in the world.

Are “common” species important ?

Absolutely. Have you ever heard of the Passenger Pigeon? – it was North America’s commonest bird species in the 1890s, yet by 1930 it was extinct (gone for ever). We do not know exactly what the future holds for any species on Earth, including us, Homo sapiens. But we cannot assume that just because a species is common it is not vulnerable to extinction.

So records of common moth species, the ones that are familiar to the moth recorders and researchers, are _really_ important, just as records of currently rare moth species are important. Thus everyone’s contribution to National Moth Week, whether just one or two moths from a backyard light or chanced upon in the garden, or of hundreds of moths seen in an all night mothing session, all go to building a bigger picture of how moths are distributed (spatially and in abundance) now – and can be compared in years to come. Every observation counts.

If you thought it’s not important to register with NMW, please reconsider. Your data is meaningful. If you haven’t used a citizen science portal before, there’s a first time for everyone. Yes, it can seem scary and overwhelming, but these apps have real people, amateur naturalists, professional biologists, academics, kids, using them, supporting newcomers and “old pros” alike! You will be made welcome, and there are people in the iNaturalist community who will help if you need help. A good place to start is the “getting started” page.

Now go and register – get outside and mothing (by day or night) in your backyard and enjoy your contribution and participation into and with the global community. Please.

—

Dr. Roger C. KENDRICK lives and works in Hong Kong. He is a Natioanl Moth Week team member.

Carl Barrentine, participants since 2013 and National Moth Week team member, is documenting moth species flying in his backyard. Carl will share his methods and findings in a series of daily videos during National Moth Week 2020.

When National Moth Week announced sign-ups for this year, I was once again filled with excitement. Mike and I had plans to set up multiple nights and multiple locations. Normally we set up near the barn (source of electricity), but this year we wanted to try and go out into the meadows. It would require many more extension cords and maybe a car battery, but we wanted to see how the meadow population compared to what shows up near the barn.

Then the SARS-CoV-2 virus hit the United States and with it a poor response to the pandemic. Mike and I both have children and families, the risk of holding an event would be too high for us. We decided to nix it this year, and while it makes my heart heavy, I know it’s the right choice.

But Moth Night must go on! This year I am going to set up my lights in my own backyard and live tweet and Instagram what I see. Most events I have participated in this year have been virtual, so why not make a virtual Moth Night?! And I haven’t taken an inventory of my back yard for a few years. I recently installed a meadow in my own backyard, and I am curious to see if it has made an impact on the biodiversity in my little .33 acres. Anecdotally I can say that this year I am seeing more lightning bugs, but what has the impact been for moths?

I use a pretty simple setup: one old white sheet from my college days, one black light (also from my college days), one photo backdrop support system to hang the sheet,  one mercury vapor light, and a rain shield for the light in case of rain. I use my grandfather’s old tripod for stabilizing the mercury vapor light. He was a photographer when he first immigrated to this country and the tripod was one of the items he brought with him from Germany.  The photo backdrop needs to be anchored or it will topple over, we usually rig something together using bungee cords and weights. We have also used tent stakes and rope to successfully keep it upright. For identifications, I use the Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America, and the Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America for the other insect guests that stop by.

Please join me on July 19^th, 2020 via Twitter and Instagram to see what I find in my backyard. Will the Regal Moth return this year? Will I see any Sphingids? How many Noctuids and Geometrids will there be? I can’t wait to find out!

Tanya Dapkey is an entomologist working in the Patrick Center for Environmental Research in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia where she studies stream macroinvertebrates to determine water quality. She has an Masters in Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and worked with Dr. Daniel Janzen for almost 15 years on the Lepidoptera of the ACG project. Learn more about her at https://www.tanyadapkey.com/ and follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @TanyaDapkey