One of the exciting things about setting up lights at night to attract insects is that there is always a good chance you will see something you’ve never seen before. This was the case the evening/early morning of July 2/3 at the Niobrara Valley Preserve in Brown County. As is becoming tradition on the eve of the annual butterfly count, lights and bait traps were set up to see what moths (and other insects) might show up. One mercury vapor light, one black light and three bait traps (using Colin Croft’s shared recipe) were set up. All attracted moths/insects. The winner of the “2026 NVP Never Seen That Before” Award goes to: Horned Fungus Beetle.
Ok, its not a butterfly or moth but it is way cool. He showed up at our mercury vapor light. Adults and larvae feed on bracket fungi growing on trees and can live up to 8 years. Only males are “horned” and females select mates based on horn size. Read about their interesting life cycle here.
But back to moths. A good variety of moths were attracted to the lights including six species of Sphinx Moths – Cottonwood Sphinx, Five-spotted Hawk Moth, Waved Sphinx, Small-eyed Sphinx, Achemon Sphinx and Virginia Creeper Sphinx.
The lights and bait traps attracted the following Underwing Moths – a Scarlet Underwing, two Three Staff Underwings, two Umber Underwings, and a Black Witch.
Umber Underwing moth. The Nature Conservancy’s Niobrara Valley Preserve
What an exciting night. Can’t wait for the next outing.
Send us your butterfly/moth (nebraskabutterflies@gmail.com) findings and we’ll update our maps if your findings are county records.
What an exciting night you had! Very cool
Very cool !!
Great encounters!