This week on Science Friday Saturday (okay, so I missed it by one day, sue me), moths and butterflies seem to be everywhere. My young son as yet hasn't discovered that I don't know everything. "What kind of moth is that?" he asks.
I'd like to have encyclopedic knowledge and spout off "Oh, that is a Grammia Anna from the Arctiidae family of moths" because William no longer is satisfied with "it's a black and white moth!" He wants to know what kind it is. My answer usually is "we'll have to look that up when we get home". And so lies the problem with being an older homeschooling mom - busy and preoccupied, I forget to look it up. Several days later, here I am, scanning the internet, having long lost the teaching moment.
Do you know how many butterflies and moths exist? Do you know how many images I had to look over to find it? The creatures aren't at all catagorized like I would: Yellow Moths, Brown Moths, Moths with dots on their wings. No, we get Thyatirid Moths, Doid Moths, or Prominents, like I'm supposed to know what those are. That's why we moms say "It's a black and white moth. Eat your french fries and shut up."
But find it I did! The moth in question was beautiful and I'd never seen one before. It is an Anna Tiger Moth . We also found the following and I've not yet found its image on the web. Anyone care to help identify?
1 comment:
Have you ever been to the wikipedia reference desk? Their articles are sometimes a bit wrong (and unfortunately, sometimes too subtly to know if you're not an expert). But if you have a picture or good description of something, and don't know where to look for more info, the reference desk is a great way to get an answer!
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