Hong Kong and Minnesota Moths

In the fall of 2019 we got to fly to Hong Kong and spend about a month with our daughter and her husband on Lamma Island. It is a beautiful island that is part of Hong Kong and is often used by residents of Hong Kong as a get away from big city life and to see nature. Our daughter had our first grandchild shortly before we arrived. They rented a house complete with a somewhat unkempt outside area with lots of flowers. A good portion of the butterflies and moths I saw and photographed were in their garden. The picture above shows some of the vegetation common on the island. It seems like much of the pollination of flowers in Hong Kong is done by butterflies and moths. I would say that what I saw there was the reverse of here in number of bees and wasps on flowers to butterflies and moths on flowers.

It struck me recently of how similar but different many of the ones I photographed there are to ones here. I hope to do a side by side comparison from there and here from the same families of moths (see also the page on butterflies). By the way, the ones I list as Minnesota moths are not just from Minnesota but are found here and across much of the USA. This is also true of Hong Kong moths. I assume they are found all across the Far East and not just Hong Kong. All pictures are mine so they are limited and not by any means a complete picture all moths in Minnesota or Hong Kong. They are most of the ones I have seen and been able to photograph so far. The ones I include are ones that amaze me most.

Hummingbird Moths (Family Sphingidae)

Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths (Subfamily Geometroidea)

Plume Moths(Family Pterophoridae)

One of the strangest moths I have ever seen. I first saw a group of grape plume moths on the first milkweed bloom of the year on June 20, 2018 (See below).

Yet Unclassified Moths (by me)

Underwing, Tiger, Tussock, and Allied Moths (Family Erebidae)

Many moths are known more for their caterpillar than the moth. Here are a few examples from many families of moths. Only a few have I seen the moth as well as the caterpillar.

I just read a book by Douglas Tallamy, an entomologist, called Nature's Best Hope. One of the things he talked about was the vital role that caterpillars play in the ecosystems we live in. They are the main source of protein for birds when they are feeding their young. Even a robin prefers them to the earthworm that most of us think of. They are also important to keep in check the spread of many plants that are native to our area. He also noted that many will only eat native plants and not the exotic plants that are often planted by us in our gardens. You may think that is good but not when some of these plants get out into the woods and wild areas and grow unchecked by any natural insects. We need to plant what many call weeds in our gardens like goldenrod, milkweed, beebalm, sunflowers and other asters. They are native plants that native insects and birds of our ecosystem depend on and are kept in check by them. Circle of life the way God created it.