You may recall that last spring I found a sawfly larva eating a distinctive pattern in a black cherry leaf, and was going to try to raise it. Well, on June 17 I noticed a tiny inchworm (about 2.5 mm long) that had apparently hatched from an egg I hadn’t noticed when I’d collected the leaf a week earlier. Here it is alongside the sawfly larva and its droppings:
And a closer view:
On June 21, it had grown to about 4.2 mm:
On June 25, it had grown to 8.5 mm, and had darkened considerably. Here you can see its leaf-skeletonizing feeding pattern.
By June 30, it had reached a length of about 16 mm, and had developed some longitudinal stripes.
It had also developed some distinctive markings on its face:
A few days later, it disappeared into a jar of soil I had offered it. Today, I found the adult moth fluttering in the jar.
It is, as expected, a “white spring moth” (Lomographa vestaliata)–perhaps the most nondescript of all moths, but a welcome sign of spring nonetheless. Maybe accidentally raising a moth when attempting to raise a sawfly will become an annual tradition.
Although this moth had been exposed to indoor temperatures for a month or so, and may have emerged earlier than it otherwise would have, I saw another geometrid (inchworm) moth fluttering around my yard two days ago: “the infant” (Archiearis infans). It was right next to a paper birch, which is one of the larval food plants. I couldn’t have gotten a shot of it even if I’d had a camera with me, but here is the last photo I took of one–on April 24, 2004. When they’re flying, you mostly see the orange hind wings, and they give the impression of little butterflies.
Again, nice info and two spring moths!
Cool! Those two moths are lovely! The white spring moth may be non-descript… but how beautiful it is!