2022 October 6 morning

    Jeremy Tatum sends a photograph of a snout moth, reared from a caterpillar found on nettle at Swan Lake.  The name “snout moth” has been applied to several unrelated species.  However, it was originally applied to moths of the subfamily Hypeninae, on account of their exceptionally long labial palpi.  The first mention I can find is that of Moses Harris, writing in the eighteenth century (1766) of a moth now classed as a hypenine, The Snout being a “standard name, as given and established by the worthy and ingenious Society of AURELIANS.”   Hypenines were also called snouts in the standard nineteenth century (Kirby) and the twentieth century (South) books.

Hypena californica is quite variable, as can be seen by comparing the moth shown below to another of the same species shown on  October 1.

 

Hypena californica (Lep.: Erebidae – Hypeninae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

Val George writes:  A few days ago Jeff Gaskin reported the sighting of a Lorquin’s Admiral and commented that he had never before seen this species in October.  I, too, don’t recall having seen one this late, but yesterday, October 5, this one was in the parking lot at Swan Lake.  [Possibly the same one as the one reported by Robert Fraser on October 2.  – Jeremy Tatum]

Jeremy Tatum writes:  I perused the Butterfly Reports from 2014 to 2021, and I found that the last Lorquin’s Admirals are usually gone by late August.  In that period, five of the eight years had September sightings, the latest being 2014 September 27.  This year, 2022, is the first year since the Butterfly Reports began in 2014 in which the species has been seen in October.

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Val George