Nebraska Lepidoptera Blog
Two New Butterflies for Polk County
On August 16 Russ and Marsha Nyffeler photographed several skippers in Polk County that proved to be county records, bringing the total number of butterflies found in Polk County to 42 species. The skippers they found were Zabulon and Delaware Skippers. Thanks to the Nyffelers for adding to our understanding of our state’s Lepidopteran fauna.
Mothing Master Class
Early last year (2/6/2025) I posted a note documenting the travels of Drs. James Adams and Brian Schlotten through Nebraska. One stop they made was at Merritt Reservoir State Recreation Area where Dr. Adams had previously found the first Nebraska record of the flower moth Schinia bimatris. I’d always wanted to go there and look…
MONA Fascicles now available to download as PDFs
Back in the early 1970s The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation was formed and undertook an ambitious project to document/illustrate all the moth species found in North America in a series of publications (fascicles). These publications became known as MONA (Moths of North America) fascicles. As expert authors needed to be found (and specimens gathered to…
New Butterfly and Moth Records
Earlier this summer (June 11) Steve Spomer set up some lights in Nemaha County at Indian Cave State Park. Among the insects attracted to his lights was a Hermit Sphinx. The five Nebraska records for this eastern sphinx are the westernmost in North America. Larvae feed on mints and beebalms. A great find of an…
“New” Moth found in Nebraska
Elizabeth Hilkemann has found another moth previously unreported from the state (her second this year). On June 20 and again on June 26 she found two plume moths she thought looked “suspicious”. She sent them to Dr. Deborah Matthews (a plume moth expert) at the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity at the University of…
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…
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