Nebraska Lepidoptera Blog
Never Seen That Before + They Only Come Out At Night
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…
2026 Niobrara Valley Preserve Butterfly Count Results
On 10am on July 3 six intrepid counters (Chris and Kim Helzer, Jonathan Nikkila, Carolyn Phillips, David Crites and Neil Dankert) set out on the 39th annual Butterfly Count at the Niobrara Valley Preserve located in Brown, Keya Paha and Cherry Counties. The Helzers, Jonathan and Neil arrived the night before to set up some…
Two “New” Moths
Eli Weber is spending his summer doing moth surveys at NU’s Cedar Point Biological Station below Lake McConaughy in Keith County. He has found two species previously not documented in Nebraska. The first is “The Mutant” (Anarta mutata). Richard Rosche listed this moth in his 1988 NE Moths listing without providing details. So, without other…
Baiting for Moths
Every year several individuals I know repeatedly make amazing butterfly and moth finds. When making inquiries I often find their discoveries were attracted to baits. And every year I tell myself I’m going to try that. Bait recipes are often closely guarded but Colin Croft has graciously agreed to share his “recipe”. His “guest blog”…
There are now two “Snouts”!!
Word has come down from above that the “Snout” butterfly has been split into two species (groan). One is now called Libytheana carinenta larvata and the other is Libytheana bachmanii. The differences are bachmanii has a sharper point on the FW (the point below the apex) and the white cell at the end of the…
Three Moths New to Nebraska
It’s been a productive early spring for Nebraska moth enthusiasts. Three species have been added to our states moth list in the past week. Two new species were among the moths Colin Croft attracted to lights on April 7 in Scotts Bluff County. The first Egira rubrica is western in distribution with Colin’s record being…
Overwintering Monarch population up 64% over last winter.
Great News!! Monarch Watch and their research partners have released their estimates for this year’s overwintering Monarch populations in central Mexico and estimate it to be 64% higher than the 2024/2025 seasons. Read about this and all things Monarch in their March newsletter.
“Butterflies of Nebraska” book now available
After many years of and red tape, roadblocks and searching for funding Steve Spomer has persevered. The result is an incredible work summarizing over 120 years of butterfly research in Nebraska. This book features all Nebraska butterfly species illustrated in color, with historical perspective, ecological information and distribution maps for each. This amazing work is…
Gardening for Pollinators Zoom Presentation Thursday
What a warm winter. Got me thinking spring and plants! In that vein, Plant Nebraska (formerly NE Statewide Arboretum) is in the midst of their Winter 2026 Plant Talk Series. This week’s presentation, scheduled for Thursday at noon, is titled Gardening for Pollinators. Everybody can do a little something where they live to give our…
Hesperia juba rediscovered
Good news and bad news! Recently I was served a helping of humble pie. Noted expert and author of “The Butterflies of Colorado” series Mike fisher was browsing our website and found some skippers we had misidentified. So, we cleaned up our misidentifications and that was the extent of the bad news. The good news…
New Flower Moth for Nebraska
A new flower moth has been found in Nebraska. In August Brad Bolduan was visiting Valentine National Wildlife Refuge when he photographed several moths visiting sunflowers. After circulating his photos it was a consensus of several experts that the moths he found were Schinia avemensis. This moth is rarely found in the United States (two…
One More New Moth
Back on October 17th Eli Weber was visiting his grandparents in Cuming County when he found an usual moth resting on their garage. After doing some research. he identified it as a Black-dotted Ruddy Moth. This id was verified by Mark Brogie, Nebraska’s resident moth expert. This is a new species for the state, the…
It’s Not Over Yet!!
The unseasonably warm late season weather has resulted in an unusual number of sightings of southern species basking in the warmth of Nebraska’s tropical weather. Several were county records, the first being a Queen from Ponca State Park (Dixon Co.) photographed on September 20 by Brett Anderson. Then on October 13 Colleen Childers found a…
More Moths New to Nebraska
Three more moths have been added to Nebraska’s moth list. On September 12 Eli Weber attracted a Thelma’s Agonopterix to lights at Elmwood Park in Omaha. This moth has been found in the eastern United States with central Iowa being the previous westernmost record. It’s larval hostplants are unknown. Then on September 22 Eli was…
4-H Records from the State Fair
Steve Spomer (who judges insect collections at the state fair) forwarded me the following new records from the fair held earlier this month. Unfortunately, most of these records come to me with incomplete data, be it dates or specific localities. So, while almost certainly valid, they are recorded on our maps with a lighter shade…
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