A New Moth on a January Night

The unusually mild winter weather continues here in Morgantown, WV. Tonight I decided to check for moths at the dusk to dawn lights in front of the lodge at Dorsey's Knob Park. These lights are very conveniently located at just about head level and there are a lot of places for moths to land on the algae-covered lattice beneath them.

Dusk to dawn Lights in front of the Dorsey's Knob Lodge, Morgantown

With temperatures hovering just above freezing at 34 degrees, I not surprisingly found only one moth tonight, but at least it was a new species for the year! Its a Triple-spotted Pinion, Lithophane laticinerea. So far in 2016, I've found seven different moth species in seven days. That's not too bad for early January in West Virginia.

Triple-spotted Pinion, Lithophane laticinerea