"What a thousand acres of Silphiums looked like when they tickled the bellies of the buffalo is a question never again to be answered, and perhaps not even asked." -Aldo Leopold
Witch Hazel Dagger Moth Acronicta hamamelis (Guenée, 1852) P-no. 931434.5 Host plant: Found on Ozark witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis) Date found: 15–16 August, 2026 Location found: Logger’s Lake Recreation Area, Shannon County, MO Notes: The WGNSS Entomology and Nature Photography groups had a great joint overnight trip to Logger’s Lake this past weekend. Obviously, among the several entomofauna groups we focused on, caterpillars were high on our list. The species pictured here was one of our most exciting finds. During my studies of field guides and online sources to determine new caterpillar species to look for, the witch hazel dagger moth caught my attention. Southeastern Missouri has plenty of its obligate host plant afterall. However, after looking on iNaturalist a couple of years ago, I discovered there were no documentations of this species in our state. Checking with the Heitzman catalogue, I found that there was only one recorded observation in Missouri—from 1889! I still kept this species in mind; there were a few documentations in Arkansas and eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and as I mentioned, the host is abundant in Missouri.
During our caterpillar hikes this past weekend, we were delighted to find seven Acronicta hamamelis larvae at various stages. I collected a couple to take home and hopefully rear to adults. The more advanced individual spent the next day feeding on my ozark witch hazel and then changed to its warm pre-pupal coloration. It has since made a cocoon and I hope to see an adult eventually.
Promethea Silkmoth Callosamia promethea (Drury, 1773) P-no. 890079 Host plant: Found on buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) Date found: 28 June, 2026 Location found: Pinewoods Lake Recreation Area, Carter County, MO Notes: I shared this species in an exciting finding and rearing experience last season here and here. To my delightful surprise, the WGNSS Entomology Group found four early instar (L1/L2) caterpillars during a trip to Pinewoods Lake in late June of this year. Since I have a buttonbush in the yard, I decided to bring them home to rear.
Early instar (L1/L2) Callosamia promethea larvae on buttonbush host.
I was getting a bit worried about my buttonbush by the amount of material these four guys were putting away. Nevertheless, I continued to supply them with fresh branches and photographed them during their development.
Mid instar (L3) Callosamia promethea larvae on buttonbush host.
Late instar (L4/L5) Callosamia promethea larvae on buttonbush host.
By mid-July, the caterpillars were fully developed and all four went into cocoons with 2-3 days of each other. From what I could find in literature, it seems that this species is bivoltine (having two broods per season) in our region. However, I was not sure if these guys would eclose this season, or if I would have to wait until the spring to see the moths. If you paid attention to the featured image at the top of this post, I assume you have guessed already.
Adult male Callosamia promethea. Notice the dorsal coloration and patterning that is reminiscent of a dark swallowtail.
The individual that Chris reared last season turned out to be female. After reading about the interesting sexual dimorphism in the adults of this species, I was eager to see and photograph a male. As you would expect, female Promethea moths are nocturnal, do not feed, and are eager to mate and lay eggs. The adult males are just as eager, but are diurnal and with different color and pattern. They typically fly in the afternoons, searching for females with which to mate. Their patterning suggest that they may be Batesian mimics of distasteful day-flying swallowtails, e.g. pipevine swallowtails.
The fourth and final adult Callosamia promethea to eclose turned out to be this gorgeous male.
This season’s cats turned out to be three males and a female, and there is an interesting story to be told here. All four eclosed within seven days. The first two were male. I photographed these and released them in my neighborhood. Early in the morning, a couple of days following the release of the second male, I found a gorgeous female had eclosed and was letting her wings expand in their flight cage. In mid afternoon of that same day, we noticed a male Promethea moth trying to get into the screen porch! I assume, but do not know for certain, that this was one of the males I released previously. I opened the door to the screen porch and he eventually found his way in and headed directly to the cage holding the female. I opened the cage door and he shortly made his way to her.
Mating Callosamia promethea. A sibling love affair?
I am always shocked by how quickly moths want to deposit their eggs following mating. I was busy with something else for a few hours and when I returned, the female was busy depositing eggs on her flight cage. I quickly released her to the neighborhood so hopefully she could deposit her remaining eggs at a more suitable location. We are monitoring the eggs now stuck to the top of the flight cage and will be prepared to move the young cats to the backyard buttonbush when they arrive.
Eastern tailed-blue Cupido comyntas (Godart, 1824) P-no. 77a0638, fam. Lycaenidae Host plant: Found on wild indigo (Baptisia sp.) Dates found: 20 June, 2026 Locations found: Victoria Glade Conservation Area, Jefferson County, MO Notes: A tiny, beautiful, and common butterfly that is often seen in suburban backyards, the eastern tailed-blue (ETB for short) is not a caterpillar that I have had luck in finding. Finally, on an outing with the WGNSS’ Nature Photography Group in June, I found one of these on a wild indigo plant within the glade. I never expected a lycaenid caterpillar to be such a challenging photo subject. This guy was healthy and mobile, rarely settling down to get the desired photo.
I’ve gotten to a point in a personal project that I can now spend some time posting more frequently here and processing some photos that have been backing up. Not that I have had a ton of success in getting significant photo opportunities the last several months.
The following are some photos of interesting insects that the WGNSS Entomology Group found on a couple trips to Missouri glades last year.
First up are a couple of moths found at a light trap we set up during a camp out at Caney Mountain Conservation Area in late September. The cool conditions were not conducive to attracting many moths, so the pickings were slim.
Eulithis sp. Fam. Geometridae
Clemensia albata (little white lichen moth) Fam. Erebidae
Next up is the fantastic Cicindelidia obsoleta vulturina (prairie tiger beetle). This species is primarily found in Texas, but there are scattered populations in Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.
Finally, from a trip to Hughes Mountain Natural Area, we found a good number of Trimerotropis saxatilis (lichen grasshopper) Fam. Acrididae. These masters of camouflage utilize open, rocky areas like Missouri’s glade habitats.
For the WGNSS Nature Photography Group’s January outing we headed to Carlyle Lake in Illinois. Our primary target was the dam’s spillway. I have had a lot of fun at this location photographing Bonaparte’s Gulls and American White Pelicans during past winters and these species are what we were hoping for on this trip.
Being a spillway with the dam and infrastructure surrounding it, the backgrounds are definitely challenging; however, it is not impossible to handle. The images below showcase one method we could use to handle this situation. With the rising sun at our backs, I noticed the light was hitting these mostly white birds perfectly. By exposing precisely for the whites and a little exposure manipulation in post-processing, it was possible to turn the darker concrete walls of this section of the spillway nearly black, which allows the birds to pop off this background as seen in the images below.
Predicting the movement of birds in a typical winter is difficult and this winter, where seasons have been changing on a daily basis, is pretty much impossible. On top of that, water levels in the lake and spillway channel were a couple feet below normal. The spillway gates were releasing just enough water, which I believe limited the numbers and size of fish falling through. So, it wasn’t surprising that we found almost nothing but Ringed-bill Gulls (RBGU) fishing in the spillway.
Ring-billed Gulls are considered 3-year gulls, meaning that they have a plumage transition for the first three years of their lives before they develop into the typical adult plumage. In addition, there is considerable variation within these years, e.g. a 2 year old gull may look different from a 2.5 year gull. Given I am no expert, I have made some captions with my best guesses on the ages of some of these birds.
Another method of dealing with ugly backgrounds at this location is to focus on the fishing activities or other opportunities where the water will be the background of the image.
Many nature photographers would consider this a bust of a day and would perhaps head back home to watch a meaningless football game. However, I like to look at this as both an opportunity for practice and to potentially learn something new about a species taken for granted and usually ignored. I liken opportunities such as this to batting practice in three ways: 1) It gives you a chance to hone your skills – this is high-speed action photography with challenging backgrounds and dynamic lighting. If you haven’t mastered your camera’s exposure and autofocus settings, you will likely struggle getting the images you envision, 2) It’s a lot of fun! Whatever species you find in a spillway like this, there will likely by plenty of birds fishing, giving plenty of opportunities to capture those fleeting moments, and 3) with a species like the RBGU, you won’t likely come away with anything to brag about. These aren’t eagles or owls or some rare species that will be all the talk on social media.
I really enjoyed watching the gulls catch and position their fish in flight for the head-first swallow. I was fortunate enough to catch this in action in several of my photos – they literally give them a little toss and catch them again so that the head is facing towards their mouth. It was also interesting to watch a few who knew the fish was too large to ingest and subsequently released back to the water.
As I alluded to above, I had a lot of fun shooting these gulls. The feeding opportunities were not as plentiful as I usually find at this location, but by staying alert and ready I came home with some photos that I really like.
Ring-billed Gulls were not the sole fishers we found. We also had several first-year Herring Gulls shown below. Unfortunately these birds did none of their own fishing, but seemed content in attempting to steal the catch from the RBGU.
Humped Oakworm Moth Symmerista sp. fam. Notodontidae Host plant(s): Found on oak (Quercus sp.) Date(s) and location(s): 18 September, 2025 – Council Bluff Lake, Iron County, MO; 27-September, 2025 – Caney Mountain Conservation Area, Ozark County, MO Notes: Caterpillars of S. canicosta (red-humped oakworm) and S. albifrons (white-headed prominent) are indistinguishable as larvae and are so similar as adults that the only way to distinguish the two is by dissecting the genitalia. Both species are found in Missouri and both feed on the same host plants – beech, chestnut and oaks (any members of the Fagaceae).
Going back to the August 16th WGNSS trip to Council Bluff Lake. After a day (and night) of caterpillar hunting, a couple of us set up light stations to attract nocturnal insects. Here are a few of the moths that I photographed from this evening.
Tufted Bird Dropping Moth Cerma cerintha fam. Noctuidae (Hodges#9062) Host plant: Host plant not recorded but species is known to feed on Rosaceae Family members Date found: 16, Aug,, 2025 Location found: Council Bluff Lake, Iron County, MO Notes: As should be obvious by the common name, the adults of this moth are bird dropping mimics. These caterpillars tunnel into soft wood at the end of the season where they overwinter as a pupa.
Red-washed Prominent Oligocentria semirufescens fam. Notodontidae (Hodges#8012) Host plant: Found on redbud (Cercis canadensis) Date found: 16, Aug, 2025 Location found: Council Bluff Lake, Iron County, MO Notes: This was found during the WGNSS joint Entomology and Nature Photography Groups’ outing to Council Bluff Lake.
Cherry Dagger Acronicta hasta fam. Noctuidae (Hodges#9229) Host plant: Two individuals at different instars were found at this location and date – both on black cherry (Prunus serotina) Date found: 16, Aug, 2025 Location found: Council Bluff Lake, Iron County, MO Notes: This was found during the WGNSS joint Entomology and Nature Photography Groups’ outing to Council Bluff Lake.
A Thousand Acres of Silphiums 
