Butterflies and Moths

June 04, 2021 by Karlissa Koop in Designs and Art

Another summer, another chance to get out and find some cool bugs!

A few years back, I made a checklist of butterflies and moths in the Fort St John area (where I live). There are actually hundreds of species of butterflies and moths in our area - far too many to put on a brochure - but it covers some of the species I’ve come across.

I also created some colouring pages, and fact cards, just for fun.

Feel free to download, print, and use any of these materials!

What kinds of butterflies and moths live around you?

Fsjcritters

December 07, 2020 by Karlissa Koop in Designs and Art

For the last few years, I’ve been casually working on a series of designs for a project I called “fsjcritters.”

The goal of fsjcritters was to draw attention to often-overlooked animals and habitats in the Fort St John area, using visuals like brochures, cards, and infographics.

My hope was that I would learn to embrace the wildlife where I live, instead of always wishing I lived somewhere else.

I believe I’ve succeeded in that. Though I consider the designs less responsible for my change of attitude than my husband, who loves many local critters and has inspired me with his passion!

So, I’ve decided to officially end this project.

As a part of saying “farewell” to fsjcritters, I’ve decided to create a condensed, ‘sampler’ version of my designs over the years.

Does this mean I won’t be creating any more designs about local wildlife? I might yet. I’ve just found myself making other types of designs lately. Designs I’ll hopefully be sharing on my website before too long.

My Moth

July 23, 2019 by Karlissa Koop in Thoughts on Life

The secret has been revealed! My moth eclosed on July 21, completing its life cycle. I released it the day it emerged, after I finished snapping off many photos of it (and before I’d gotten it identified).

The moth I reared from older caterpillar to adult was…

A Mouse Moth (Amphipyra tragopoginis)!

Possibly introduced from Europe (oops), these moths eat a variety of plants as caterpillars (mine just wanted dandelions, and lots of them). They can be identified by the triangle of black spots on each forewing.

According to ukmoths.org.uk, they may be called Mouse Moths because, when startled, they tend to run away like little mice instead of flying. That would fit with my experience while trying to re-catch it after I accidentally let it escape during its photo shoot.

All in all, raising that little caterpillar was a fun experience! And now I have a souvenir pupa skin to remember it by!

Caterpillars

July 08, 2019 by Karlissa Koop in Thoughts on Life

In addition to writing, I’ve been busy designing a brochure about butterflies and moths of Fort St John. During my research, I learned a little about rearing caterpillars, and thought it would be fun to try raising local caterpillars.

In a lot of cases, caterpillars aren’t as well-studied by scientists as the adults. That leaves room for fun discoveries! So I prayed the opportunity would come to rear a caterpillar, and kept my eyes open to the ground.

While walking up to Tim Horton’s during a rainstorm, I found a caterpillar crawling along the pavement. So I took it home. Believing it to be a cutworm of some kind (some of the adult moths are called ‘darts’), I gave it a home where it could dig, as cutworms spend a lot of time underground. It chewed off a ‘cutting’ of some clover, spent time underground and above, and seemed to be behaving like a cutworm should.

I did a little research, and learned that some cutworms in our area ‘estivate’ during mid-summer - essentially, this is the summer version of hibernation. It appeared to be doing that: hiding itself in the substrate and never coming up to eat.

Sadly, I don’t think I set up the conditions for estivation well; and the cutworm died and shriveled up. Caterpillars get their water from their food, so I’m guessing it dehydrated - maybe they estivate somewhere with a good amount of moisture to make up for their lack of eating during this period.

My disappointment over losing this caterpillar was mitigated by the fact I’d already found another in my yard by a dandelion. It ate well, devouring dandelion leafs, growing, and pooping a lot.

As you can see in the bottom photos, one day, I found it weaving itself a cocoon! It took about two days to finish the cocoon and then pupate. Now, I have a little pupa waiting to ‘eclose’ (emerge)!

I’m not sure what species it is… I had been assuming it was a sulphur butterfly, since I’ve seen those in our yard and they too have green caterpillars. But they don’t spin cocoons, and their pupa looks quite a bit different. I’ve researched, but still don’t know what it is… so I’ll get a fun surprise when it ecloses!

Assuming it does, of course. Things can still go wrong in the pupa stage, and the moth could die during transformation. But I’m hoping for the best.

From what I gather, the transformation usually takes a few weeks. If or when the moth ecloses, I’ll send it in to be identified by the professionals at BAMONA (Butterflies and Moths of North America), then let you know what kind of moth it is!

If you want to learn how to raise caterpillars, I’d recommend looking up “Bart Coppens butterflies.” He actually works mainly with moths, and rears both species that are exotic and ones that are native to his home in the Netherlands.

Moths 101

June 12, 2019 by Karlissa Koop in Events of the Month

After lots of designing, photographing, and even some butterfly-catching, I’ve finished it: the newest version of my brochure, “Butterflies and Moths of Fort St John” - and I’m so excited, I had to post about it!

Moths are diverse, often overlooked critters that are about 400 species strong in British Columbia. Obviously, my one-page brochure can’t cover all the species in our area; but it gives a starting point to work with.

Scientists classify both butterflies and moths as Lepidoptera. Both have the same life cycle, wings with tiny scales, and a curling proboscis for sipping liquids (except the moths that don’t eat, which often don’t even have mouths!).

So: what is the difference between a butterfly and a moth, anyways?

After some mutterings about colour, time of wakefulness, antennae shape, and little apperati on the wings - all rules broken by some moth or butterfly somewhere - entomologists appear to throw up their hands and conclude, “It’s just a linguistic difference.” In other words, butterflies and moths are different in the way that locusts and grasshoppers are different. It’s just a fancy name change.

You can read more about my work with moths by clicking here!

I will be having the design professionally printed, hopefully before the month is over.