Moth Monday Visits New Jersey
It occurs to me that a lot of the moths I’ve posted lately have been rather, small, brown, and dull; even if from a taxonmoic view they’re quite diverse. Thus I was really happy to find these showy Ailanthus Webworm Moths on Saturday’s Brooklyn Bird Club field trip to Sandy Hook and Richard W. Dekorte Park:
Atteva punctella, Hodges#2401
Sandy Hook, New Jersey, 2009-09-26
This native Ermine Moth species is active in the daytime. It’s originally from Florida where it feeds on the native Paradise Tree Simarouba glauca. However it’s expanded its food sources to include a number of exotic trees including Tree of Heaven, Ailanthus altissima; and has thus managed to expand its range northward as far as Canada. It’s the only member of its genus in North America.
