BAMONA's blog

Did you know you can browse all the species in the BAMONA database? Find a list of all species on the Browse All Species page. Click a species name to go to its species profile.

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) invite you to attend a Butterfly Conservation and Management Short Course in Klamath Falls, Oregon. This full-day training will provide an overview of butterfly biology and identification, threats, and appropriate habitat management. In all of these modules, the emphasis will be on at-risk butterflies in the Klamath Falls area, including the mardon skipper, Leona's little blue, and monarch. By the end of the day, participants will have the skills to begin implementing effective habitat management and conservation efforts on butterflies.

The Estes Park Museum (Colorado) is hosting an exhibit called "Fluttering Butterflies: From the Net of Dr. Wiest." The exhibit includes a selection from the collection of Estes Park’s first mayor, Dr. Roy Wiest, and runs April 22, 2011 through April 17, 2012. Admission is free. Find more information about the exhibit and programs about butterflies at www.estes.org/museum.

A Cecropia Silkmoth was found in Riverside County, California on April 4, 2011, a first in the state. No breeding population of this species has been previously reported anywhere near this sighting. Thanks for the submission, keekabird!

Since our launch of the new site on January 10, 2011, more than 800 individual citizen scientists have created accounts, and over 5,300 sightings have been submitted. Thank you for your support of this project! We also want to extend a hearty thank-you to our regional coordinators, who have been working tirelessly to review each submission.

Lep Course in Southeast Arizona
August 14-22, 2011

Held at the SouthWest Research Station (SWRS) in the Chirichahua Mountains in SE Arizona (a 2 1/2 hour drive from Tucson), the focus of the lep course is to train graduate students, post-docs, faculty, and serious citizen-scientists in the classification and identification of adult lepidoptera and their larvae.

Topics to be covered include an extensive introduction into adult and larval morphology with a focus on taxonomically-important traits, extensive field work on both adults and larvae, collecting and curatoral techniques, genitalic dissection and preparation, larval classification, use (and abuse) of DNA bar coding, and general issues in lepidoptera systematics, ecology, and evolution.

For more information, visit http://www.lepcourse.org.

Want to compare ventral views of similar species? Head to the image gallery, where two new filters have been added. Users can filter the images by species type (butterfly or moth) or by adult view (dorsal or ventral), in addition to the other filters.

Lepidoptera of the Northeast: Identification, Ecology, and Sampling Techniques
July 3-9, 2011

See attachment for full details. Information on lodging options, meals, and costs may be found at: http://www.eaglehill.us/programs/general/application-info.shtml. There is an online application form at:
http://www.eaglehill.us/programs/general/application-web.shtml.

Spotted a species that isn't represented in our database? Share your sighting, and we will add that species to the database. Check out the What's New page to see a list of species recently added to the database.

Cladara anguilineata and Palpita flegia were added to the database. New sightings for these species are pending verification.