Poplar – Tendrils

Another nod to moths in celebrating National Moth Week (July 17-25, 2021). This moth photo was in my immense file of moth images, unidentified. Many of you might know, I love a mystery and last night I looked upon this critter as one of those mysteries. Luck was with me and I was able to figure out that this is a Curve-toothed Geometer (Eutrapela clemataria). A master of camouflage in both adult and larval form. Here, as a moth the camouflage isn’t that effective against the cedar siding, but imagine this moth in a bunch of leaves and you can appreciate how clever the coloring and shading is. The caterpillar is just as ingenious, an inch-worm disguised as a stick. A stick that loves to eat the leaves of many trees. Just a few of those trees: ash, basswood, birch, elm, fir, maple, poplar, and willow.

Yesterday a dear friend let me know that we’re in the middle of National Moth Week (July 17-25, 2021). I had no idea such a thing existed! But now, with that in mind, I present the Lesser Maple Spanworm Moth (Speranza pustularia). Like many moths, this one is nocturnal and is attracted to porch lights. Their favorite host plant is Red Maple but will settle for other Maple trees, and many others trees like Birch, Poplar, Fir, and Hemlock. After mating females lay their eggs on host tree branches in the fall. Surprisingly those eggs survive through the winter, hatching in late spring or early summer. The caterpillar pupates, or creates a cocoon and takes about ten days to emerge as a moth, at the end of summer. And then the whole process begins again.