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!

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.

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.

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

“a photographic record and field guide to the moths of Southern Belize”.

Well, if you are interested in wildlife then this could be paradise! We live just a mile and half from the sleepy town of Punta Gorda in the jungle of Southern Belize, and have an ongoing fascination with the flora and fauna that surrounds us — including toucans, Howler Monkeys, tapir, and a huge variety of insects.

We have had a bug board for many years, attracting insects and their predators for us and our guests to observe and photograph. In 2013, having chanced across the National Moth Week website, we decided to invite friends for a ‘moth evening’ and catalogue the moths we saw. Although we recorded very few moths (about 40 species) it was a sufficiently interesting and fun evening to convince us to hold a week-long series of events for NMW 2014.

What a contrast! We were blown away that we recorded 521 species of moths in the eight nights of National Moth Week 2014, but also shocked and frustrated that we were unable to identify many of those species.

We have continued to photograph the moths coming to our bug board every night, and the collection of images and species has now grown to such an extent that we needed a platform to display them. We wanted to make the picture record easily accessible to anyone who was interested but, more importantly, to continue to identify different species through our own efforts and, significantly, the generosity of others helping with IDs and corrections.

So, introducing www.moths-of-belize.com

In creating our photographic record of the moths at Hickatee, we have tried to place each moth in the correct Family and subfamily. The Plate index also provides an image typical of that subfamily, as an aid to identifying unknown species.

In general, the style of individual images and for the website follows the Moth Photographers Group website, so as to try and maintain consistency and to aid comparisons of individual images.

We have followed the typical division of families into “macro” and “micro” Lepidoptera.

Identification of these moths has been our biggest problem as we have been unable to find more than a few resources about tropical Central American moths.

Matthew Barnes’ site www.mbarnes.force9.co.uk/belizemoths/belizehome.htm and the Moth Photographers Group site www.mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/ have been invaluable. But, still, the placement of individual species within a subfamily is, in many cases, little more than a guess with the only benefit of the placement being that similar moths with similar markings, shape and posture are grouped together.

If you see any image that is in the wrong place, if you can identify a moth or its family then please let me know by email at ian@hickatee.com or message on the website.

We currently have images of nearly 2,000 species of moths and usually add at least one new species per day to our records. Whilst most of the macro moth pictures are now uploaded to the website, the micro moth images will be something of a ‘work in progress’ over the next couple of months.

With the increased interest in moths in Southern Belize we are expecting a very exciting and productive National Moth Week 2015. If you have not already organized your own event, I would urge you to DO IT NOW– it really is worth the effort. But, do be careful – you may find yourself becoming hooked!

Blog posted on BAMONA’s site on June 12, 2015:

National Moth Week is July 18-26, 2015.

If you missed it in past years, plan to get involved this year!

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.

If you take part in National 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.

The Hudson Highlands Nature Museum‘s new exhibit, “Marvelous Moths,” will open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at the museum’s Wildlife Education Center, 25 Boulevard, Cornwall-on-Hudson (NY, USA).

 Visitors can view gorgeous moth photos from Jim des Rivieres and learn about the moth life cycle, anatomy and how moths differ from butterflies.

“Moths are as interesting as butterflies,” said Pam Golben, director of the Wildlife Education Center. “Some moths are masters of camouflage while others are decked out in dazzling patterns and colors.”

Opening weekend specials include crafts, refreshments for kids and “Meet the Animals” program at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.

This event is for all ages. Admission is $3; free for museum members. A ribbon cutting is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. Jan. 31.  For more information: go to hhnm.org or call 534-5506, ext. 204.    

 

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!

Philippine Lepidoptera

Moth turnout was huge and elicited admiration from members of the group. Several hawk moths were shared. From the gorgeous Oleander Hawk Moth from the plains to the funny looking Death’s Head Hawk Moth from the highlands! It was indeed exciting!

Other finds are the lace-like Geometer moth from Quezon Province, the exotic looking Agaristine moth from Isabela Province, the cute Arctiid moth from Baguio City and  Philippine Moon Moth (Actias philippinica) from Baguio City.

Photos of moths shared at Philippine Lepidoptera FB group were also entered at Project Noah under the account of Philippine Lepidoptera and Project Noah Moths of the Philippines.