Mokka mit Schlag » Nature

Merrick’s Pyralid Moth, Hodges 5117, Loxostegopsis merrickalis
Casper’s Wilderness Park, Orange County, California, USA
June 29, 2008

(more…)

There are somewhere over 10,000 different species of moths in North America. Sometimes even the larger ones can go unidentified. Here’s one from Shoreline Park in Mountain View that has as yet resisted efforts at identification:

If anyone recognizes it, please comment.

Unknown Species, genus, and family
Shoreline Park, Mountain View, 2008-05-07

Update

It took a few years but the current (January, 2011) thinking is that this is in the genus Tetracis. Exact species still indeterminate.

Silver Argiope, Argiope argentata, female
Robert E. Badham Marine Life refuge, Corona del Mar, 2008-10-09
(more…)

Pallid-winged Grasshopper, Trimerotropis pallidipennis
Corn Creek, Clark County, Nevada, 2008-09-28

Saltmarsh Moth – Hodges#8131 (Estigmene acrea)
Brookhurst Marsh, Huntington Beach, 10-04-2008

Bill Butler found this sleepy fellow (gal?) on this past weekend’s bird census. I’ve seen the caterpillar of this species before, but this is the first time I’ve seen the adult.
(more…)

Banded Argiope, Argiope trifasciata
Brookhurst Marsh, Huntington Beach, Orange County, CA,2008-10-04

Today I once again participated in the quarterly bird census for the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy. Breeding season is over so we tramped around in the pickleweed more than previously which turned up a lot of small leafhoppers, various moths, a few butterflies, and a couple of these gorgeous spiders.
(more…)