Editor,
The moth outbreak on campus and around the city is not an unusual occurrence. It happens every few years, depending on the previous winter weather.
We are now witnessing a migration of army cutworms, a different species of miller moth than we had a couple of weeks ago when it was predicted the invasion was over.
Two weeks ago, we were infested with diamondback moths, cat-eyed moths and three or four other species of noctuids. These species were present in large numbers because of the wet winter and most of them have now died off.
The army cutworm, which we are now infested with, has a single generation a year. The caterpillar stage overwinters and becomes an adult in late May. The adults will migrate to areas where there are plenty of plants that provide the nectar they feed on and they will rest in cool, shady areas during the day. This species will be around Albuquerque and on campus for the first half of June, then will start migrating to higher elevations.
By late June and into July the army cutworm moths will be terrorizing people in Cedar Crest. At the end of the summer, they will migrate back into Albuquerque, mate and lay their eggs in weedy fields. The eggs will hatch out into small cutworms, which will overwinter and start the process again next year.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Many army cutworms are around during this migration because of the wet winter and plenty of plant growth to sustain the cutworms.
If you want to catch them in your house, set a white bowl in the middle of the floor at night and hang a light bulb over it. Most of the moths in the house will be in the bowl the next morning. You can also hang wind chimes on your porch to discourage them as unusual noise irritates them and they will not land. Of course, it has to be breezy enough to move the chimes.
There isn’t much we can do on campus except put up with them. A vacuum cleaner would probably help but won’t eliminate them. Only time will do that.
These moths, which are a nuisance to us, are a blessing to other creatures. The campus now has a lot of very fat and happy birds.
-Richard “Bugman” Fagerlund B.C.E.
Environmental Services
