One of our native silk moths is the Io moth, which lack functional mouthparts and do not feed after emerging from the cocoon. All of their energy is derived from the caterpillar stage. The adults simply mate and then die, with the males hopefully surviving long enough to find a mate, and the females long enough to lay eggs. The adult life span is reported to be very short – only a week or so.
It’s night in the woods. Numerous flashlight beams dart through the trees. Moonshiners? A cult? Neither. It’s Moth Night and a bevy of moth seekers armed with flashlights are illuminating the wondrous nocturnal Lepidoptera alighting on the trees. This scene can be witnessed often in East Brunswick, NJ. Thanks to local Moth Nights, sponsored by The Friends of the East Brunswick Environmental Commission, something else has taken flight: National Moth Week. The founders of National Moth Week have very deep Rutgers roots: naturalist David Moskowitz is completing a Ph.D. in Entomology at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and Liti Haramaty is a marine sciences researcher at Rutgers Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences. With additional Rutgers support, these two have made local Moth Nights emerge into a national spotlight on moths. Listen to Encyclopedia of Life’s podcast on National Moth Week.
