The following article was written by Aidan Montgomery, a Summer Education Intern at the Woodland Dunes Nature Center.
This week is National Moth Week! Although they’re often overshadowed by their butterfly counterparts, moths are fascinating creatures. Moths and butterflies are in the order Lepidoptera, which contains around 160,000 species of moth. Technically, moths and butterflies are the same, but humans have put them into categories based on physical characteristics. For example, most butterflies have small clubs at the end of their thin antennae, but moths tend to lack this feature. Most moths are nocturnal, whereas most butterflies are diurnal. Butterflies generally have bright coloration on their wings since those colors are highly visible during the day, but many moth species have no need for such vibrant colors as they are active at night.
Moths play vital roles in our ecosystems. While the pollinator butterflies take their well-earned rest at night, moths come out for the pollinator night shift. Some moths, like the Io moth, do not have mouthparts and only live a few days in their adult stage with the sole purpose of mating. Even though these moths cannot pollinate, they are still beneficial to the environment as many food webs rely on all life stages of the moth. Caterpillars are a tremendous source of nutrients for birds, especially young chicks. Adult moths are also prey for bats, owls, insects, amphibians, and even squirrels.
If you are interested in helping conserve moths, there are several things you can do:
- Change your outdoor lighting. Many insects, including moths, are attracted to light and may become “stuck”, preventing them from foraging for food, finding a mate, and completing other important behaviors. Yellow LED bulbs emit light that is difficult for many insects to detect, so making this simple change may result in less moths being attracted to your outdoor lighting. Another solution is to turn off outdoor lighting completely.
- Plant native plants that support both caterpillars and moths. Adult moths get a lot of the attention, but their caterpillar stage is just as important. Native plants like garden phlox, evening primrose, and goldenrod may attract moths, while willow, birch, and oak trees may attract caterpillars.
- Engage in community science. Applications like iNaturalist allow everyday people to contribute directly to science. By taking a photo of an insect (or any organism) and uploading both the photo and location onto iNaturalist, experts in the field can help identify and log the specimen you’ve found. This data is collected with the goal of documenting species populations, range, and supporting the overall conservation of ecosystems.
