White Moth
Definition of a bug you don’t want to mess with: a moth who takes a nap on a bug zapper. This small moth might be a tiger moth, or it could be one of a hundred other similar and hard-to-distinguish species common to Moab, Utah. It flew up to the bug zapper and then settled down for a nap, probably expecting a mate to be likewise attracted.
This bug zapper actually had a whole nihilist bug culture around it; a pair of praying mantises would come out at night and take up stations on the zapper waiting for food to be self-delivered. One of the mantises actually patrolled the inside of the bug zapper, and over the course of the weekend I saw two mantises with burn marks on their forelegs. They were both alive and well, and sporting an attitude of “Hey, if you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the bug zapper.”
Slowly getting the site back onto an even keel. It's nice to get back into the old posting rhythm.
Athena said,
September 16, 2007 @ 9:50 am
Wow… that’s crazy! Thanks for sharing.
Kazriko said,
September 17, 2007 @ 12:15 pm
I do believe Mantises have discovered the joys of cooking their food before eating it.
Solarn said,
October 5, 2007 @ 12:43 pm
Moths are the most beautiful insects there are. Period.
Also, insects and other assorted creepy-crawlies can act surprisingly intelligent and have distinct personalities at times. They’re cool like that.
David Brady said,
October 5, 2007 @ 12:50 pm
Oh, I don’t know; all else being equal, I think butterflies have cooler paint jobs.
My favorite insects to watch are jumping spiders and praying mantises. It’s way cool to watch a mantis hunt; it’s cool to watch jumping spiders do pretty much anything. They have style.
Solarn said,
October 8, 2007 @ 6:04 am
But moths are hairy.
I’ve never seen a jumping spider. The only kinds I see here are the small dull brown ones that catch mayflies and mosquitoes in my room and the bigger orb weavers with the beautiful cross markings that weave huge spiral webs in the trees and above doors.
Insect Picture of the Day » Praying Mantis Closeup said,
October 12, 2007 @ 7:00 am
[...] is one of the bug-zapper mantises that I mentioned in this post. It hung out in the garden until nightfall and then came out to visit the bug zapper buffet. In [...]
Insect Picture of the Day » Moth said,
July 22, 2008 @ 8:39 am
[...] Steve Allen sends in this nice pic. There are a number of moth species that are white or mostly white, some of them even have seriously bad attitudes. [...]