{"id":2401,"date":"2023-06-01T01:05:12","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T07:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/?p=2401"},"modified":"2023-05-30T13:15:29","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T19:15:29","slug":"moth-mania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wildlife\/moth-mania\/","title":{"rendered":"Moth Mania"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Butterflies are easy to admire and love. They are brightly colored, harmless, fly by day, and catch the eye as they flit from flower to flower. Lovely! But moths? Aren\u2019t they mostly drab night fliers that flutter around campfire lights, get in your face as you sit outdoors, and come indoors to devour your stored wool sweaters? Staying close to home during the pandemic, enjoying small local wildlife changed my thinking about moths and spawned a new hobby\u2014or mania\u2014 I call it \u201cmothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moths and butterflies belong in the same insect \u2018Order\u2019\u2014Lepidoptera\u2014which means \u201cscaled wings.\u201d The scales are modified hairs and are responsible for insects\u2019 coloration through pigments and reflective structures. Adults of all moths (and butterflies, as well) have the typical insect body parts: paired feelers (antennae) and straw-like feeding tubes (proboscises) on the head that curl up when not in use; two pairs of scale-covered wings and three pairs of legs on the thorax (mid-section); and long, fleshy abdomens.<\/p>\n<p>All lepidopterans follow similar life cycles. Eggs hatch into tiny caterpillars (eating machines) that grow and shed through several stages (instars) until they are ready to pupate. They shed their tight casings (exoskeletons) each time they have a growth spurt\u2014think kids outgrowing tight T-shirts! Finally, they hatch from the pupae as flying adults, the final, finished product. Butterflies and moths are not always easy to tell apart.<\/p>\n<p>Field clues can be iffy. Take these suggestions with the proverbial grain of salt! Worldwide, there are roughly 10 times more kinds of moths than there are butterflies, and no doubt many more to discover. It would be a tragic loss for species to disappear before we even know of their existence.<\/p>\n<p>Thousands of moth species live in Colorado, from huge to microscopic. A black witch\u2019s wingspan can be greater than 6-inches. Many so-called \u201cmicromoths\u201d are measured in mere millimeters. Some moths are brightly colored. Others are drab. Most fly by night, but others fly by day. Many are important plant pollinators. Several species are serious pests of crops and forests. Some appear densely furry. Others have see-through wings. They may hover like hummingbirds, twirl like dancers, or rest almost invisibly in their cryptic splendor. The variety among moths is mind-blowing. Many moths communicate with pheromones\u2014chemicals released in the air and perceived by other moths. That\u2019s how they find a mate.<\/p>\n<p>A few moth species have ears sensitive to bat echolocation and react to potential bat danger by plummeting to the ground out of harm\u2019s way. Some developed sound-making organs that can startle or warn bats away\u2014or even jam a bat\u2019s sonar to escape becoming prey.<\/p>\n<p>One way to find night-flying moths is to look around lights, especially those having UV wavelengths. (The trait of light seeking is called positive phototaxis.) Why do moths come to lights? There is no generally accepted theory, and not all night-flying moths come to lights anyway. We just notice those that do.<\/p>\n<p>Are moths attracted to the moon as a means of orientation, (anticipating that light means up, dark means ground), and mistake random lights for the moon up in the sky? Is heading upwards (moonward) a tactic to avoid predation as moths migrate? Do moths use the moon and stars in navigation by keeping the light at a constant angle to the eye to keep on track . . . and mistakenly use the same tactic in homing in on random lights? (This might cause a spiraling path in toward a lamp\u2014or lethally, an open flame.) The jury is still out on the exact \u201cwhy\u201d of light attraction, but it is worth noting that lights are less effective in attracting moths on full moon nights.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of why moths fly toward light, it\u2019s evident that those bright gas stations, all night diners, security-lit office complexes, brightly lit homes, ball fields, and the like may well disrupt the normal lives of moths going about moth tasks of eating, pollinating, and mating. It is also evident that there\u2019s much to learn about moths and their lives, and citizen science can be a part of it.<\/p>\n<h2>Moths vs Butterflies<\/h2>\n<table class=\"table\" style=\"font-size:1rem\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"text-align: left;width:50%\"><strong>Moths<\/strong><\/th>\n<th style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Butterflies<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Fuzzy or feathery antennae<\/td>\n<td>Clubbed or hooked antennae<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Active at night (not all)<\/td>\n<td>Fly by day<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Rest with bings flat (not all)<\/td>\n<td>Rest with wings held above body, bust bask with flat wings<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Front and hind wings hook together<\/td>\n<td>Front and hinds wings are independent of one another<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Butterflies are easy to admire and love. They are brightly colored, harmless, fly by day, and catch the eye as they flit from flower to flower. Lovely! But moths? Aren\u2019t they mostly drab night fliers that flutter around campfire lights, get in your face as you sit outdoors, and come indoors to devour your stored [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2419,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[79],"class_list":["post-2401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wildlife","tag-summer-2023"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Moth Mania - Images<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wildlife\/moth-mania\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Moth Mania - Images\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Butterflies are easy to admire and love. They are brightly colored, harmless, fly by day, and catch the eye as they flit from flower to flower. Lovely! But moths? Aren\u2019t they mostly drab night fliers that flutter around campfire lights, get in your face as you sit outdoors, and come indoors to devour your stored [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wildlife\/moth-mania\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Images\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BoulderCountyOpenSpace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-01T07:05:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Untitled-design.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Summer Alameel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@BoulderCountyOS\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@BoulderCountyOS\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Summer Alameel\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/wildlife\\\/moth-mania\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/wildlife\\\/moth-mania\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Summer Alameel\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/36c7e5f4732f1bc4188d4c72b5a7a596\"},\"headline\":\"Moth Mania\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-01T07:05:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/wildlife\\\/moth-mania\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":743,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/wildlife\\\/moth-mania\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/Untitled-design.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Summer 2023\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Wildlife\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/wildlife\\\/moth-mania\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/wildlife\\\/moth-mania\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moth Mania - Images\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/wildlife\\\/moth-mania\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/wildlife\\\/moth-mania\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/Untitled-design.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-01T07:05:12+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/wildlife\\\/moth-mania\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/wildlife\\\/moth-mania\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/wildlife\\\/moth-mania\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/Untitled-design.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/Untitled-design.png\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"Moth\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/wildlife\\\/moth-mania\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Moth Mania\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\\\/i\\\/\",\"name\":\"Images\",\"description\":\"Articles from Boulder County Parks &amp; 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(Boulder County Parks & Open Space parks are closed sunset to sunrise). The night shift takes over. A wild party? No! The animals are merely doing what nocturnal animals do. Some hunt for prey. Others forage for food in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Wildlife&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Wildlife","link":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/category\/wildlife\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Skunk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/skunk.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/skunk.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/skunk.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/skunk.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/skunk.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/skunk.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":683,"url":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/activities\/national-pollinator-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":2401,"position":1},"title":"Celebrate National Pollinator Week (June 15 &#8211; 21)","author":"Staff","date":"05\/26\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"If you ate food today or put on clothes, thank a pollinator. Worldwide, approximately 1,000 plants that provide food, beverages, medicines and fibers require pollination. Overall, 75 percent of all flowering plant species require\u00a0pollination. Pollination is carried out by over 200,000 animal species. When we think of pollinators, we typically\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Activities &amp; Events&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Activities &amp; Events","link":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/category\/activities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bee","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bee.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bee.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bee.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bee.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bee.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bee.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3165,"url":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wildlife\/monarchs-milkweeds-and-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":2401,"position":2},"title":"Monarchs, Milkweeds, and More","author":"Summer Alameel","date":"06\/01\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Monarch butterflies regularly make the news, perhaps because they are everyone\u2019s favorite butterflies. Their epic migrations capture the imagination. It seems improbable that such fragile insects would even attempt to wing it from Canada to Mexico, or from the Midwest to the California coast, to find a winter hibernation haven.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Wildlife&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Wildlife","link":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/category\/wildlife\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Split image showing a monarch butterfly on the left and a cluster of pink milkweed flowers on the right. The monarch rests on a yellow flower with its wings closed, displaying vivid orange and black patterns. 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