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.

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.

Contributing to National Moth Week with iNaturalist is simple:

Download the free iNaturalist app, photograph and make a separate observation for each moth, check that the location and date are correct, and identify each as precisely as you can. It’s ok if you can just get to family.

All moths observed between July 18 – 26 will be automatically included!

Be sure to join the National Moth Week 2020 project as well: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/national-moth-week-2020

Jacob Gorneau was 15 when he came to a moth night in East Brunswick, NJ, in 2013. He and his dad traveled more than 150 miles from upstate New York to meet the NMW team, who’d started the observance just a year earlier. By then, however, Jacob already was a valuable contributor to NMW’s success.

“I had learned about National Moth Week through a citizen science site, Project Noah, (an NMW partner organization) and was able to work as a liaison between Project Noah and NMW for its first year in 2012,” he said.

Jacob’s fascination with moths and the natural world began early. He was hooked after seeing a Black Witch moth on a family trip to Florida. “I couldn’t believe the moth was as large as the geckos near it! I think that was the first time that I became thoroughly enamored with moths.”

To further his interest in insects, he’d challenge himself to stay outside until he found something he’d never seen before. (Sounds like a great way to interest kids in nature.)

“What became clear quickly was how easy it was to see a new moth, spider or any other kind of arthropod,” he said. “The more I learned about how diverse arthropods are, the more I got interested!”

Jacob helped spread the word about NMW to other groups and events. His valuable and growing knowledge about moths helped NMW become more widely known. In 2013, he was invited to become the youngest member of the NMW team.

“I think National Moth Week is an important cause, because looking for moths is an activity for everyone, and learning more about them invites people to have a more open mind when it comes to other organisms – like snakes and spiders – that might be surrounded by a cloud of misconceptions,” he said.

“Mothing is great because all it requires is leaving an outside light on or having an inexpensive mothing setup, and nature will come to you. A lot of common misunderstandings about moths and other arthropods come from a place of fear, and I think the best tool against this fear is education. The outdoors is a great classroom”

This spring, Jacob graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., with a degree in entomology. He will begin graduate studies this fall at San Francisco State University through the California Academy of Sciences. “I hope to pursue a career in academia that incorporates a lot of evolutionary biology and collections-based museum work.”

National Moth Week congratulates Jacob on his graduation and looks forward to many more years of collaboration. 

      9th Annual Celebration

   July 18-26,2020

Discover the Fascinating World of Moths in Your Backyard

Looking for an activity that’s safe, fun and enriching for all ages during this period of social distancing? 

The ninth annual National Moth Week, July 18-26, invites novice and experienced “moth-ers,” alike, to observe these fascinating creatures in their own backyards and contribute to our scientific knowledge as part of one of the world’s largest citizen science projects.

While they’ve been maligned as butterflies’ less attractive and sometimes more destructive cousins, moths have always had loyal fans for their diversity, beauty and value as pollinators and food sources for birds and other animals. The beautiful Luna, mystifying Death’s-head and exotic tropical moths have long attracted the attention of artists and writers as well as entomologists.

As people likely will continue avoiding crowds this summer to slow the spread of COVID-19 infections, National Moth Week (NMW) offers the opportunity to learn about nighttime nature from the safety of backyards and gardens; porches, decks and terraces.

Free registration of private and public moth-watching events is encouraged on the NMW website in order to show where moths are being observed around the world. Private street addresses are never displayed. All participants will receive a beautiful certificate of participation designed by Ecuadorean artist Belen Mena of the NMW team.

“This year’s National Moth Week may not feature as many traditional public moth nights as in the past, but it’s still possible to observe and learn about moths while social distancing,” said Liti Haramaty, co-founder of National Moth Week. “All you need is an outdoor light source shining on a wall, door or white sheet.  And don’t forget your camera.”

In addition to using lights, moth-ers also can attract moths by coating tree trunks with a sticky, sweet mixture of fruit and stale beer. Searching for caterpillars and day-flying moths is a good activity for daytime. The NMW website offers tips on attracting moths.

Participants are invited to contribute photos and data to NMW partner websites, as well as the NMW Flickr group, which now has over 100,000 moth photos from around the world. Moth observations submitted to iNaturalist.org, a site for sharing observations in the natural world, will be added to the NMW project on that site. Last year, over 27,000 moth observations were posted on iNaturalist.

Since it was established in 2012, NMW has inspired thousands of public and private moth-watching and educational events around the world in over 80 countries and all 50 U.S. states. Sites have included National Parks and Monuments, museums and local recreation areas, private backyards and front porches – wherever there’s a light and a place for them to land.

Last year, hundreds of National Moth Week events were registered around the world, including all 50 states and 47 countries.

“Moth diversity is astonishing and with a little effort it’s amazing what can be found in a backyard or local park,” said NMW co-founder David Moskowitz, Ph.D. “Some of my most exciting moth adventures have been in my own small backyard. Exploring yours is sure to yield moth treasures that are just waiting to be found.”

National Moth Week was founded by the Friends of the East Brunswick (N.J.) Environmental Commission, a nonprofit organization dedicated to environmental education and conservation. It is now one of the most widespread citizen science projects in the world. It is coordinated by volunteers in New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Washington State, Ecuador, India and Hong Kong.

For more information about National Moth Week, visit the website at nationalmothweek.org, or write to info@nationalmothweek.org. Also, find National Moth Week on Facebook, Twitter (@moth_week) and Instagram (mothweek).  #Nationalmothweek #mothweek

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Why study moths?

• Part of the Lepidoptera order of insects, moths are among the most diverse and successful organisms on earth.
• Scientists estimate there are 150,000 to more than 500,000 moth species.
• Their colors and patterns are either dazzling or so cryptic that they define camouflage. Shapes and sizes span the gamut from as small as a pinhead to as large as an adult’s hand.
• Most moths are nocturnal, and need to be sought at night to be seen – others fly like butterflies during the day.
• Finding moths can be as simple as leaving a porch light on and checking it after dark. Serious moth aficionados use special lights and baits to attract them.

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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.