When the common name describes the caterpillar, I think it sounds better to add "moth" to it. (e.g. Armyworm Moth or Hickory Horned Devil Moth) Some descriptions can be confusing, e.g. "looper". One could wonder if the caterpillar loops like an inchworm, or does the moth do a loop-de-loop. For records' sake, I am grateful people use the scientific name. Also, it helps me when the Hodges number is included, because my records are in that order. Thanks. Jean ----- Original Message ----- From: kjchilds To: ncsc-moths@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ; tn-moths@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 3:49 PM Subject: [tn-moths] Re: A nice night When I'm labeling my photos, I go with whatever feels right. For example, calling Antaeotricha leucillana a "Pale Gray Bird-dropping" doesn't feel right so I add Moth to the end. Calling Lacosoma chiridota a "Scalloped Sack-bearer" sounds OK, IMHO. Ken Childs Henderson, TN Chester County http://tinyurl.com/Kens-Moths-2011 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Jean Obrist <innisfreehorses@xxxxxxxxxx> To: ncsc-moths@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; tn-moths@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 2:40 PM Subject: [ncsc-moths] Re: A nice night Hugh, some people are very new to mothing, and just learning to use MPG for IDs. I like dropping the word "Moth" from the end of the common name. We can all do that. As for anything more complex, we will get it in time. Thanks for teaching us. Jean Obrist ----- Original Message ----- From: Hugh McGuinness To: ncsc-moths@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ; TN Moths Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 1:34 PM Subject: [ncsc-moths] A nice night Dear Southern Leppers, Now that summer vacation is near, I was thinking I might post some of my Long Island sightings. A few people suggested that I do so when I joined the list, but if there is a groundswell that feels LI moths are not appropriate for this list, I would certainly understand. Last night I traveled to my field site in Montauk, set four traps and then set up blacklights at a small house on the edge of the village. Montauk is the eastern tip of LI's south shore and was in fact an island when English settlers arrived. The moths at Montauk are spectacular and diverse largely because nearly 70% of the Montauk peninsula is parkland--if only there had been so much foresight on the rest of Long Island! The wind was fairly gusty until about 1 am so moths didn't settle much, but I did manage my first 100 species night--the current total is 130, but I have a few unidentified micros to add. Highlights included Several Io Moths, a lone Polyphemus Moth, Melsheimer's Sack-bearer, Lacosoma chiridota, and Bondia crescentella, which is a cool micro that looks a lot like a Nolid. First of the season moths for me were Acrolophus plumifrontella, Argyresthia oreasella, Clepsis peritana, Snowy Urola (Urola nivalis), Plain Besma (Besma endropiaria), Packard's Wave, Eyed Paectes (Paectes occulatrix), Meganola minuscula, Tufted Bird Dropping (Cerma cerintha), Black-bordered Lemon (Marimtha nigrofimbria), and Lycophotia phylophora. The sample from my four traps appeared to hold the promise of more than 250 species, but that number won't be determined for several moths when I pull them out of the freezer to actually ID and count them after the bulk of the field season is over. Finally, while I have the floor, I have been meaning to say something about the common names of moths. First point is that while I have huge amounts of respect and appreciation for Bob Patterson and what he has contributed to moth ID, I do not like his naming conventions. He has attached the superfluous word "moth" to virtually every adult Lep, however, this subverts the original common names of groups and adds extra words to the name, and I just plain don;t like it. An example, Acronicta are not Dagger Moths, but Daggers. Similarly Sphinx Moths are Sphinxes, Lithophane are Pinions (not Pinion Moths), etc. Many of our common names were pioneered by Brits, and I like to follow their conventions when referring to the common name of a genus, or of a group of closely related genera. The majority of the rest of our common names were made up by Charlie Covell (and I have heard with considerable help from Eric Quinter) when he wrote his famous field guide. I asked Charlie several years ago what he lessons he had learned about common names, and he said "I wish I hadn't named any after the genus." Onew example of the \ problem is that everything that has the common name Bomolocha is now in the genus Hypena--here is a group that needs a new common name. So what I am suggesting is that within reason, until there is an official list of common names, people might want to use the common names as they were original intended and get creative and clever and make up new common names for groups that are in desperate need of them (e.g., Bomolocha). (OK, got that out of the system.) Hugh