It is so wonderful to see the true fall colours this year, especially the colours of the aspens. I think this is because the amount of damage to the leaves by the herbivorous aspen leaf miner is much less than it has been for a long time.
So, the leaves were greener through the spring and summer and now show the lovely yellow and some red-tinged natural colours of fall once more.
Talking of herbivores, we have had an invasion of tiny moths in our house since late summer. How they get in, we do not know, but they remain motionless all day and then seem to come alive when we turn the electric lights on in the evening.
With help from our local entomologist Ken White, we finally found out that they are called ‘many-plumed moth’ (one of three Alucita species). With a name like ‘many-plumed’ one might expect them to be quite fabulous, however, they are very tiny, brownish-gray and rather drab with a wingspan of about one centimetre or less.
When magnified it is easy to see that the wings are much prettier. At rest, the wings spread apart like open fans showing their unusual modification.
Unlike most moths, these tiny creatures have wing parts with feathery plumes that resemble a bird’s feather. Each of the four wings (two forewings and two hind wings) consists of six rigid, brown-beige striped spines.
Arrayed along the spines are rows of flexible bristles arranged in a V-shape and pointing down and toward the centre of the space between the spines. The trailing edge of the wings is wavy and fluffy.
I recommend using a magnifier to really see the beauty of these unusual wings.
Many-plumed moths are herbivores and feed primarily on black twinberry (Lonicera involucrata) or honeysuckle species or snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), both of which are abundant here in our region.
The adult moths are active in spring and fall and in between exist as eggs or larvae on the host plants.
