2017 May 25

   Wylie Thomas found another Cat on the Broom in Uplands Park – doubtless blown off a nearby oak in yesterday’s gale.

Catocala aholibah (Lep.: Erebidae – Catocalinae) Wylie Thomas

  Yesterday Gordon Hart followed a Leptostales rubromarginaria near the Pike Lake substation ponds, and he eventually found it in cop with another individual.  The two were slightly different in coloration, one much paler than the other.  It would be interesting to know if this is sexual dimorphism, or if one were merely more worn than the other.  The immature stages and larval foodplant of this tiny reddish day-flying geometrid are unknown. Gordon’s observation shows that the species is likely to be ovipositing in that area right now.  Here is someone’s chance to make a contribution to knowledge!  If anyone sees one ovipositing, please save the egg – Jeremy Tatum would be eager to rear it.

Leptostales rubromarginaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Gordon Hart