New Jersey Moths: The Micro-Micros
Like the tiny flower world in Horton Hears a Who, there are many moths that are so small that they are easily overlooked. These are the micros, tiny pinhead or pencil point sized moths that are often quite distinctly patterned and beautiful. There are also larger moths that taxonomically are micros, but this article focuses on the smallest of the small, what I will call the Micro-micros. For many years now I’ve been looking for moths in my backyard. I use a 175-watt Mercury Vapor Light to attract them. The light is placed in front of a suspended sheet to give them a place to land so they can be easily observed.
Unfortunately, the identification of many micro moths, even those with distinct patterns and colors is difficult at best. The other night I photographed a few cool ones in my backyard.
“Bee to the blossom, moth to the flame; Each to his passion; what's in a name?” Helen Hunt Jackson Dave Moskowitz is Senior Vice President with EcolSciences, Inc., President of the Non-Profit Friends of the East Brunswick Environmental Commission and Co-founder of National Moth Week. Consider participating in National Moth Week next summer.
An unidentified species of micro moth with a distinctive and stunning pattern next to a pencil point for scale.
Photos courtesy of David Moskowitz
My moth light setup in my backyard. A 175-watt Bioquip Mercury Vapor Light hung in front of a white sheet. It attracts a huge diversity of moths and other cool insects.
The diversity of moths in my small yard is amazing. I am certain that there are literally hundreds of species throughout the year. Until recently, I really only paid attention to the larger moths including those micros that are easily seen with the naked eye; maybe a minimum of 4 or 5 millimeters or so in size. But, over the past few weeks I’ve spent some time looking for the tiniest moths on my sheet and I have been simply stunned by the incredible diversity, intricate patterns and beautiful colors of many of these moths. For the most part, they are so small I can’t even tell what they look like until I take a photograph and enlarge them. In just the past week, I have found more than a dozen tiny moths no larger than a millimeter or two in length.
Micro moths is a vernacular catch-all term for small moths in many different families, collectively called the Microlepidoptera. From an evolutionary sense, the micro moths are typically more primitive than larger moths that are generally collectively known as the Macrolepidoptera, but both groupings are artificial and not monophyletic. The diversity of these tiny moths is amazing and the life histories of many species are largely unknown. There are also certainly many undiscovered species, some probably even lurking in backyards. So little is known about so many species that the micro moths offer a rich opportunity for anyone interested to contribute meaningful information on their life histories, distribution and species diversity. 
Probably one of the Phyllonorcytor spp. micro moths with a pinhead for scale. Thanks to Ken Childs and Merrill Lynch for help with the identification. 
Bucculatrix coronatella with a pencil point for scale. Thanks to Ken Childs and Merrill Lynch for help with the identification.
I also posted a few other photos of micro moths on the Moth and Moth Watching Facebook page where some of the very best moth’ers regularly astound me with their knowledge. With input from Ken Childs and Merrill Lynch, names were put on a few more of these micro moths. 
Probably a species in the genus Elachista with a pencil point for scale. Thanks to Bob Patterson for help putting a name on this tiny moth.
A very tiny unidentified species of micro moth with a pencil point for scale.
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Categories: New Jersey Moths
Tags: moths Micro-micros micro moths moth diversity moth species Insects
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