Mokka mit Schlag » Bugs

Spotless Ladybird Beetle, Cycloneda sanguinea
Irvine, CA, 2008-11-01

I found these two busy beetles while walking my dog one morning.

I went out to Santiago Oaks yesterday for the monthly Sea & Sage walk with Linette Lina. I usually try and get there a little early because the restrooms near the picnic area are a great place for insects and moths in the early morning. They probably leave the lights on over night, and various things end up perched there in the morning. Yesterday was no exception. This skittish fellow was about 2-3 cm long, and held his wings folded over his back perpendicular to the wall rather than spread out parallel to the wall like most moths do:

Don’t know what it is yet. Any suggestions?

I found this leaf mimic moth in my garage a couple of days ago (2008-11-29). On a tree, it would have been practically invisible, but on the white walls of my garage it stuck out like A Thinkpad in an Apple store.

Tentatively, it has been ID’d as 6981 – Prochoerodes forfocaria, though I’m not absolutely certain of that.
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I’ve run out of identified moths, but I still have a couple of mystery moths left. This one I found in the evening at the Huntington Beach Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center on Pacific Coast Highway last Saturday, November 15:

Anyone recognize it?
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Today’s subject hasn’t actually graduated to full moth-hood yet, but I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel. This is the caterpillar of the Yellow-striped Armyworm Moth – Hodges#9669 (Spodoptera ornithogalli).

Campus Drive between Bridge and University, Irvine, 2008-09-14
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I found a few more moths in my back albums, but if I don’t find some more soon January will be pretty bleak:

Chytonix divesta, Hodges#9559
Shoreline Park, Mountain View, 2008-06-25
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