Cool critters: Let magnificent elder moths lure you into the dark

July is peak season for raspberries and young songbirds learning to fly. But did you know it’s also high moth season?

Probably not. As most of us sleep, a vast array of wings flutter in darkness, unseen.

Though butterflies capture our attention during daytime, moths tend to go unnoticed because the majority are only active at night, said entomologist Richard Zack of Washington State University.

“Many moth species are as attractive and intricately patterned as butterflies,” Zack said. “Few people realize that there’s a massive world of moths out there.”

To aim a spotlight on that world – and to dispel the common misconception that all moths are drab and eat holes in clothes, National Moth Week runs today through July 26. The event, started by a small grassroots group in New Jersey in 2012, now draws participation from all 50 states and 80 countries, according to the organizers’ website.

“Take a closer look at moths,” they urge.

With this in mind, let’s get to know a mint-colored beauty known as Zotheca tranquilla. Commonly known as the elder moth, its caterpillars feed on the elderberry plant, a large deciduous shrub that thrives here in the Inland Northwest. If an elder moth shows up at your porch light, you can bet that at least one elderberry shrub is nearby.

This lovely, medium-sized moth won’t be hard to identify. Covered with a thick, powdery coat of minty green, its wings are adorned with fine-lined squiggles and zigzags. Its velvety thorax resembles a puffed-up cape the color of sea glass.

“During July, it’s a common species here,” said Spokane naturalist Carl Barrentine, who attracts moths at night using artificial light and white sheets outside his home and then documents what he finds. Barrentine has been capturing and releasing between one and a half-dozen elder moths each night, he said.

For the past nine years, Barrentine, a retired biology professor, has been trapping moths each March through November. To date, he has tallied more than 950 moth species in the south Spokane area where he lives.

So think about this before you drift off to sleep tonight. Considering there are only 800 butterfly species in all of North America, Barrentine’s tally of 950 moth species found in a small sliver of Spokane is an astonishing number.

And it’s not as if these many moths are useless. They pollinate plants while butterflies and bees rest. Also, moth adults and caterpillars are an important food source for birds and bats.

Butterflies get all the glory, but clearly, it’s moths that rule.