Monday, July 09, 2007

More Porch Light Visitors

Here are a few more visitors to the porchlight, from mid-June. The hot dry weather has put a damper on nocturnal insect visitors lately. The first insect is a caddisfly, the second a dobsonfly, and the third a handsome but small moth. I see many nature fans post specific epithets on their backyard bugs, but my inner taxonomist balks at this. An erroneous identification is worse than non at all, and these groups are way outside my field of expertise. They are pretty, whatever they are.

Caddisfly Stonefly Moth

5 comments:

Brett Hendrickson said...

Just checking in to let you know that I've been enjoying the insect pictures. I don't comment every time but am here seeing your photos nonetheless.

nina at Nature Remains. said...

Those are some pretty snazzy antennae on the Dobsonfly. Nice pics!

Larry said...

Rebecca, I must say that sometimes an erroneous ID isn't all that bad a thing, as sometimes it will draw the attention of a more knowledgable observer.

Some of your recent comments on my insect posts are pertinent examples, comments which have helped me at least get the family right!

Rebecca Clayton said...

Thanks for stopping by!

Larry, I've noticed some erroneous genus-species id's being propagated. Someone slaps a questionable label on his bug, which other people use to identify their own bugs on their web pages....it's the same thing that happens with overzealous collectors, but propagated at the speed of the Internet.

There's nothing wrong with not being sure!

Anonymous said...

Greetings, Rebecca; nice blog, incredible photos! I'm searching Google images for a nifty brown caddisfly that attached himself to my van window tonight whilst I was pumping gas, and stayed with me for three miles.

I am thinking that the second insect here may be an adult stonefly and not a dobsonfly, as dobbies have those enormous tusks on their faces, used for mating, I believe. If I'm not mistaken (and I'm sure willing to be!), they can also deliver a nasty nip if a finger gets in the way.

Cheers,
Kelly in Vermont