First up – moths.

Why should anyone study moths at all…. ?

An intrinsic answer would be “because they’re there, they exist.” (just like people climb mountains, because they’re there!). That doesn’t get many kudos points for function, though. Certainly wouldn’t get one funding for a research proposal. Let’s take a different perspective.  Bees – o.k. they’re not moths, but they do an important job – you know, pollination. No bees, then no almonds, no honey, no apples (you get the idea, no bees then a lot less things that humans eat.). Well let’s think along similar lines, but for moths. Now bees generally do a day shift, whereas moths (the vast majority, at any rate) are nocturnal. So without moths we have – no papaya, longan and a whole lot of other fruit and vegetables – specifically with white and pale blue flowered species. Why white and pale blue – because they reflect moonlight, i.e. reflected sunlight, best. Moths (and many other nocturnal creatures) have eyesight geared up to detecting faint moonlight, in particular the ultraviolet wavelengths (undetectable to humans).

Very few people (perhaps none) have actually looked at the whole picture of just how much moths and other nocturnal pollinators contibute to human wellbeing (i.e. “our” food), but it will not be inconsiderable. Put aside the rich diversity of species numbers, abundance of some of these species, the amazing variety of colours, shapes and patterns moths utilise (mostly as some way to stay alive – a difficult task at the bottom of the consumer food web). Let’s hear it for moths – providers of a major eco-service: pollination.

Right, if food isn’t your thing…

What about other ecosystem functions?  Moths are pretty much at the bottom of the food web. They undertake quite a few roles, but major in herbivory (eating plants) and detritivory (eating dead plant and animal matter – there are many moth species that play a significant role in recycling nutrients). Without moths (especially their larvae) so many species would be hungry – birds, small (and sometimes large) mammals, predatory insects, spiders, frogs, toads, snakes, fish (yes, there are aquatic moth larvae, too!) . .

So moths are food for other species and use dead other species as food. Sounds a bit cyclical, but it works! Can’t get away from the food theme yet, then!

So if the moths don’t want to be on someone else’s menu?

– O.k. how much space do I have?? This is a long story, but I’ll try to be short and punchy.

Think mimicry – moths do this pretty well. They can (depending upon which moth species one chooses, because one species will mimic one other item) visually mimic a whole range of items you’ll see in the natural environment – bird poo, lichen, tree bark, fresh leaves, dead leaves, partly eaten leaves, snakes, other moths, bees, wasps, spiders (and more); i.e. they try to blend in (crypsis) or mimic poisonous things that most predators avoid. How cool is that?

Avoidance is not just visual, either. Some species have taken the evolutionary warfare thing a little bit more to the extreme – tiger moths can hear their nemesis (bats) coming (the echolocation calls of bats), and then can answer back with their own ultrasound. Scientists have two theories as to what the replies mean; it could be a mecahnism to “jam” the bats echolocation, causing confusion to the bat and make it miss its target; alternatively, it could be a message to the bats to say “keep off, I don’t taste good” (which is possible as most tiger moth species contain a distasteful chemical to deter predators).

There’s a third important moth sense – smell. Adult moths mostly use smell to track down (maybe I should use the phrase “sniff out”) a partner to continue the species… Some moth species are incredibly effective at this, being able to detect pheromones (moth perfume!) from several kilometres away (downwind only!). The antennae on the top-front of the head have evolved specifically for this task.

There’s one moth genus – Acherontia – that use all three senses in mimicry. They mimic bees to gain access to the beehive for honey; using cunning deception.  Acherontia moths smell like a queen honey bee; they can emit a squeek that sounds like a queen honey bee buzzing her wings; they have a marking on the top of the thorax that looks like a bee (we recognise it as a “mask”, but turn it through 180 degrees and one should see a bee, maybe – that takes a little imagination if you ask me).

Enough. I hope you are starting to get a glimmer of understanding as to why moths are important.

So what next?

Well how about finding out a little more about them? Where they occur; when they occur; in what abundance do they occur; under what conditions do they occur; which species can be found???

This is where National Moth Week comes into play. By getting lots of people out into the wider environment, rather than stuck indoors, and recording both daytime and night time moth (remember this means any part of the life cycle – egg, larva, pupa or adult) activity, and then reporting all these data and observations, it becomes possible to see answers to big picture, continental, even intercontinental scale, questions. Especially for events repeated over time. In some ways NMW is actually only partly helpful here, because NMW gets lots of people to participate once in a while; whereas what is really needed is lots of people to participate on a more frequent regular basis. That’s where data depositories like iNaturalist come in – because it’s possible to use these data “banks” at any time of year, both to make a deposit (an observation) and a withdrawal, either by the same person who made the deposit, or by an agreed account holder who uses or organises a particular project through iNaturalist. Let me give you an example: I run the Hong Kong Moth Recording Project (HKMRP) on iNaturalist. It has been running since 2011, and over 150 people have placed some 7,200 observations of over 1,000 moth species in Hong Kong with iNat and the HKMRP. The geographic coverage of these data is much more complete than if I had tried to record the same number and distribution of data observations in the same time. Just not logistically possible. What does NMW share with HKMRP ? Well, apart from being hosted on iNaturalist, both projects use the same citizen science approach to obtain data, getting lots of observers to voluntarily submit observations of moths. However, NMW is in many ways a feeder system, getting across to many more people than any one long term local project ever could, but (hopefully) enthusing the same people to become more involved in other local (or regional, or even national) moth recording projects that aim to improve our knowledge and understanding of the moth species and their habitats upon which we, as well as many other species in the environment, depend for our own survival. Remember, we have only one planet that we call home. In spite of all the research done on astronomy, physics, space travel and all the other sciences that take tax payers money in many countries, we still don’t know many of the basics of the biological system called “life on Earth”, without which humans will not survive. At the moment we are making a global scale pig’s ear of looking after Planet Earth.

So get out of the house, into the garden, the yard, the lot, the allotment, the park, the nature reserve, the country park and do a bit of mothing for NMW and for you. If you enjoy it, don’t let the end of the NMW week stop you – get curious, find out more and report back to NMW (and your “local” moth recording group or project), please. Your world, my world, my daughters’ world, our next and further generations’ world will be the better for it.

Dr. Roger C. Kendrick

Director, C & R Wildlife, Tai Po, Hong Kong

Manager, iNaturalist’s National Moth Week project
Administrator, iNaturalist’s Hong Kong Moth Recording Project.

National Moth Week Science Advisory Board

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Links:

• Moth Magic – an introduction to moths (ppt file – http://www.slideshare.net/hkmoths/moth-magic-an-introduction-to-moths)
• National Moth Week 2016 registration – http://nationalmothweek.org/register-a-nmw-event-2016/
• iNaturalist – one of a number of citizen science approach online biological databases, which houses recording projects for NMW and the Hong Kong Moth Recording Project
• – http://www.inaturalist.org/
• – https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/national-moth-week
• – https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/hong-kong-moths

Mapping how species ranges are changing is key to proper biodiversity conservation and can act as an early warning system if a species might be in trouble. Is a species’ range expanding or contracting? If we don’t know this how can we make proper decisions regarding its conservation? This is where LepiMAP comes in. LepiMAP is an awesome Citizen Science project run jointly by the Lepidopterists Society of Africa (LepSoc) and the Animal Demography Unit, University of Cape Town. LepiMAP was launched in October 2013 and is the continuation of SABCA (the Southern African Butterfly Conservation Assessment).

LepiMAP aims to determine the distribution and conservation priorities of butterflies and moths on the African continent. Yes, you read correctly, LepiMAP is an Africa-wide project! We want butterfly and moth records from all over Africa! LepiMAP’s ultimate goal is the conservation of wild populations of butterflies and moths, and their habitats, in Africa. This entails educating and encouraging people to observe, appreciate, and understand the needs of living insects. LepiMAP is a section of the Animal Demography Unit’s Virtual Museum and is a database containing photographic records of butterflies and moths, together with the dates and places of occurrence.

This project represents an excellent opportunity to make your photography count for conservation. We are building up a huge database of photographs (along with the locality information) of butterflies and moths throughout Africa. LepiMAP is “phase 2” — in phase 1 we built up a database of almost 400 000 records of Lepidoptera distributions, so we have demonstrated that we can build distribution maps using this approach. Please help us build onto this database, and enable LepiMAP to produce the 21st century distribution maps for Africa’s Lepidoptera. Unless our knowledge of the ranges of species and how they are changing is based on solid evidence, conservation initiatives will only be based on anecdotes and the person with the loudest voice. So please do upload your photos of butterflies and moths to the LepiMAP database. The website at which you do the uploading is at http://vmus.adu.org.za/ — Join the conservation conversation. LepiMAP is a great way to involve the public in Lepidoptera conservation. Spread the news! Get your family and friends involved and let’s get out there and start LepiMAPping!!

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National Moth Week 2016 will be held from 23rd to 31st July. Anyone can participate.
Register a public or private event or find one to attend by checking the website for public events. Registration is free to individuals, groups and organizations.

LepiMap is a partner organization with NMW. For more about submitting moth observations click here. 

If you have questions or need more information – click here to contact us.

]]> https://nationalmothweek.org/2016/07/01/lepimap-the-atlas-of-african-lepidoptera-guest-post-by-megan-loftie-eaton-lepimap-project-coordinator/feed/ 0 9044 https://nationalmothweek.org/2016/06/26/submit-your-moth-sightings-to-bamona/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=submit-your-moth-sightings-to-bamona https://nationalmothweek.org/2016/06/26/submit-your-moth-sightings-to-bamona/#respond Sun, 26 Jun 2016 15:15:19 +0000 http://nationalmothweek.org/?p=8975 Submit Your Moth Sightings to BAMONA Read More »

Whether you’re new to mothing or an experienced moth-er, you can contribute to science by submitting photos and information on your sightings to Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA), a partner of National Moth Week. BAMONA is a unique, well-respected, and established database of verified butterfly and moth sighting records.

If you take part in National Moth Week, you can provide your data to us and receive free identification assistance. You’ll be contributing to this valuable dataset and online resource. You will need to register for an account, but it is quick and easy to do, and logged-in users can track their submissions. Simply take a photograph of a moth, and submit that information to us via our online submission form. Make sure to select “National Moth Week” under the list of Partner Projects.

We’ll add the verified records to the database, maps, and checklists, and your data will become part of a growing dataset. To see the records that have been verified so far, visit the National Moth Week Data Explorer.

BAMONA currently houses nearly 600,000 individual sighting records that have been submitted by the public and verified by collaborating lepidopterists who review each submission.  Sighting data are regularly exported to scientists at academic institutions and government agencies for research purposes.

In addition, sightings are made available to the public on the BAMONA website’s species pages with maps and life history information, and via regional checklists. BAMONA users have access to a personalized dashboard that organizes all submitted sightings and their status.

Getting involved is easy: attend a National Moth Night event, start an event, join friends and neighbors to check porch lights from time to time, set up a light and see what is in your own backyard, or read literature about moths, etc. Visit the National Moth Week website for more information, or learn how to register.

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National Moth Week 2016 will be held from 23rd to 31st July. Anyone can participate. Register a public or private event or find one to attend by checking the website for public events. Registration is free to individuals, groups and organizations.

If you have questions or need more information – click here to contact us.

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Learn about why and how to submit moth observation – click here.

If you participated in NMW 2014 and submitted moth observations, let us know which organization you submitted to.  Please complete the poll that is on the right side menu of the website.   Thank you!

ZERYNTHIA, the only national organization for butterfly conservation in Spain, is a nonprofit association that works in the areas of conservation, reporting and scientific study on Spanish butterflies and moths. It is the Spanish partner of Butterfly Conservation Europe, a federation with the same objectives in a European context. It takes its name from the butterfly Zerynthia rumina, a member of the beautifull Mediterranean papilionid species.

It consists of people concerned with the conservation of butterflies — both nature lovers and specialists at the university level. Their activities range from social awareness and disseminating information on the importance of butterflies, to the conservation of nature with the creation of sanctuaries for certain endangered species of butterflies. It also has the support of volunteers in such projects as butterfly monitoring.

Submit moth photos from Spain to ZETYNTHIA  iNaturalist project – ‘Moth of Spain’.

ZERYNTHIA es la única entidad española de ámbito nacional para la conservación de las mariposas. Se trata de una entidad sin ánimo de lucro que trabaja tanto en el ámbito de la conservación, como en divulgación y en el estudio de las mariposas diurnas y nocturnas. Es el partner español de la federación europea Butterfly Conservation Europe, cuyos objetivos son similares a escala europea. Toma su nombre de la mariposa Zerynthia rumina, un papiliónido endémico de la península ibérica, sur de Francia y Marruecos.

Está formada por personas preocupadas por la conservación de las mariposas, desde amantes de la naturaleza generalistas, hasta especialistas del ámbito universitario. Sus actividades abarcan desde la concienciación social y la divulgación de la importancia de las mariposas, hasta la creación de microrreservas para la protección de determinadas especies de mariposas amenazadas.  También cuenta con el apoyo de voluntarios en iniciativas como los programas de seguimiento de mariposas (BMS schemes).

Whether you’re new to mothing or an experienced moth-er, you can contribute to science by submitting photos and information on your sightings to Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA), a partner of National Moth Week. BAMONA is a unique, well-respected, and established database of verified butterfly and moth sighting records.

If you take part in National Moth Week, you can provide your data to us and receive free identification assistance. You’ll be contributing to this valuable dataset and online resource. You will need to register for an account, but it is quick and easy to do, and logged-in users can track their submissions. Simply take a photograph of a moth, and submit that information to us via our online submission form. Make sure to select “National Moth Week” under the list of Partner Projects.

We’ll add the verified records to the database, maps, and checklists, and your data will become part of a growing dataset. To see the records that have been verified so far, visit the National Moth Week Data Explorer.

BAMONA currently houses nearly 600,000 individual sighting records that have been submitted by the public and verified by collaborating lepidopterists who review each submission.  Sighting data are regularly exported to scientists at academic institutions and government agencies for research purposes.

In addition, sightings are made available to the public on the BAMONA website’s species pages with maps and life history information, and via regional checklists. BAMONA users have access to a personalized dashboard that organizes all submitted sightings and their status.

Getting involved is easy: attend a National Moth Night event, start an event, join friends and neighbors to check porch lights from time to time, set up a light and see what is in your own backyard, or read literature about moths, etc. Visit the National Moth Week website for more information, or learn how to register.

 Moth Week, you can provide your data to us. Take photographs of the moths you find, and come share your sightings with BAMONA. You will need to register for an account, but it is quick and easy to do, and logged in users can track their submissions. Simply take a photograph of a moth, and submit that information to us via our online submission form. Make sure to select “National Moth Week” under the list of Partner Projects.

We’ll add the verified records to the database, maps, and checklists, and your data will become part of a growing dataset. To see the records that have been verified so far, visit the National Moth Week Data Explorer.

We are happy to add Hong Kong Moths as a new partner of National Moth Week. Hong Kong Moths is part of the Asian Lepidoptera Conservation Group/Symposium, an informal “connecting” organization for Lepidoptera conservation in Asia.

Moth observations from Hong Kond are collected through the Hong Kong Moths  iNaturalist project.
There are three main focal areas that data submissions are of importance:
1. to assist with the local conservation assessment of all moth species in Hong Kong; this is ongoing now for the Hong Kong Biodiversity Strategy & Action Plan (BSAP) process.
2. There is no complete checklist of species for Hong Kong – Dr. Roger Kendrick (NMW Science Advisory Board member) published a list in 2004, which has not been updated since. All new records contribute to the improvement and updating of the Hong Kong Moth checklist.
3. The data gathered is part of long term monitoring moth species’ response to climate change at a regional scale, investigating in particular species that are newly documented for Hong Kong, which have previously only been known from more tropical areas (Such as South-East Asia, Indochina and other areas).
The more data there is contributed, the better the resolution of understanding. To date, Hong Kong Moths on iNaturalist has generated almost 2,000 records towards the causes. Some of these records include first sightings of species in Hong Kong (including some species not yet identified). The goal for the iNaturalist project is to get up to 5,000 records on by the end of the year!

Guest blogger: Jacob Gorneau / Project Noah

Here is the invitation they sent:

You and your family are invited to a moth dinner party. Do not be afraid-we will not be eating moths. The menu is pasta, salad, bread, lemonade, iced tea and cake. The moth part is that it is National Moth Week (I know you may already have big plans surrounding this, but come to my party instead) and we will be attracting moths, taking photos, identifying them, and posting photos online. Educational and fun. We will also have some lawn games set up and some game fun for grown ups too if needed.
WHAT TO BRING: If you have a great camera that can take close up photos please bring it and the usb cord.
Flashlights for the kids might be fun.

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