November 11, 2017
One never knows what will turn up at a black light at night. Last night I photographed a moth I had never seen before, put it on BugGuide.net and found out it was the Ailanthus Webworm Moth, apparently never
recorded in Arizona before.
From Wikipedia:
The ailanthus webworm (Atteva aurea) is thought to be native to South Florida and the American tropics (south to Costa Rica), which were the habitat of its original larval host plants: the paradise tree (Simarouba glauca) and Simarouba amara. Another tree called tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima), originally from China, has been widely introduced and naturalized, and Atteva aurea has been able to adapt to this new host plant, giving rise to its common name, the "ailanthus webworm".
A wasp, perhaps one of the many species of thread-waisted wasps.
The Sonoran Metalmark photos I got today are my favorites
so far, one showing underwing and another showing upperwings.
Both are on Chuckwalla Delight flowers, a great butterfly plant here
in the Sonoran Desert.
Some species of earwig at the black light.
Western Pygmy-Blue on lavender.