Not Your Mother’s Mothra: National Moth Week Flutters Across City

Is mothing the new birding? Is Mothra, the renowned giant Japanese monster movie insect who first fluttered her wings across the silver screen in 1961, to blame? Just ask one of the hundreds of enthusiasts who attended National Moth Week celebrations across Manhattan.

National Moth Week, which took place July 18-26, was started in New Jersey in 2012. It began with a local mothing event—a nighttime gathering that involves using bright lights and other baits to attract moths for observation.

Now in its 15th year, the volunteer-led celebration has expanded to all 50 states and 90 countries. Through educational events and nighttime walks, the goal of the week is to broaden the appreciation of an oft-misunderstood insect.

“National Moth Week is an opportunity to actually stop and highlight and promote the study of moths more broadly globally,” said Jessica Ware, the American Museum of Natural History’s Division Chair of Invertebrate Zoology.

Ware, who has a doctorate in entomology, studies the evolution of insects, as well as insect decline. She brought her expertise to the AMNH’s event, True Stories, Wild Things: A Celebration of National Moth Week, as one of the four panelists.

The event, which occurred the evening of July 23, drew around 200 of the city’s nature enthusiasts. While seated under the museum’s blue whale, conversations revolved around the considerably smaller, more overlooked moth.

Many people are familiar with the disruptive clothes-eating moths. However, there are an estimated 160,000 moth species worldwide— almost 100 times the 17,500 known species of butterflies. Most moths are nocturnal, neutral-colored, and have a 1-to-2-inch wingspan.

Despite the massive number of moth species, most go unnoticed. Ware said this is because the general public is mainly drawn to brightly colored insects that are out during the day, like butterflies and ladybugs.

“That’s the opposite of moths, right?” Ware said. “A lot of moths are kind of drab, and they’re kind of the unsung heroes doing all of these important roles while we’re slumbering.”

However, not all moths are modest in their appearance. Some are ultra-colorful or have scales on their wings. At the AMNH’s event, shadowboxes displayed dozens of intricate and exotic moths.

The city’s nearly 1,000 local moth species were a focus of the Battery Park City Authority, which hosted morning moth trap reveals and evening moth wall viewings throughout the week.

Why it Matters

Behind each National Moth Week event is another goal: preservation.

“Moths, like a lot of other insects, are really declining in large numbers at a rate that we’ve kind of never seen before,” Ware said. “It’s pretty alarming.”

Some moths are hardworking pollinators. Others are a vital food source for predators like bats and wasps. The loss of a moth species can affect an entire ecological chain. Therefore, the further decline of all insects could have massive repercussions.

Ware said that one of the main drivers of their decline, other than climate change and pesticides, is light pollution.

Flying insects evolved around 400 million years ago. Research shows nocturnal flying insects evolved to use the light of the moon and stars to navigate and orient themselves. Otherwise, they were accustomed to consistent darkness.

When humans invented the light bulb, suddenly this consistent darkness became disrupted by porch lights, street lights, and car headlights.

What a moth thinks is the moon may actually be a gas station light. This disorients them, leading them to circle around the source.

“They’re wasting their energy, which they could otherwise be using for eating, mating, growing, dispersing,” Ware said.

The most effective solution is changing LED lights to warm or red lights. Most moths are attracted to blue light, which LED lights often emit.

While this would be most effective on a municipal level, changing your porch lights also makes a difference. Or, try going without the extra lights outside your house at night.

Ware said that other personal steps one can take include avoiding using unnecessary pesticides, advocating for more green space, and paying more attention to how your local government is tackling the issue of declining biodiversity.

Community gardens can also play a part. After the BPC started identifying what moth species were visiting its South Cove garden two years ago, it began adjusting its plants accordingly.

BPC identified this through moth trapping, which involves using a light source and enclosure to harmlessly trap moths for the night.

In the morning, the moths are identified and released. At one of the morning moth trapping reveals for National Moth Week, tens of moths were admired by a dozen onlookers.

Spreading Awareness

One low-effort step is just bringing moths into the conversation, the overall goal of National Moth Week. Moths tend to get a bad rap, whether it stems from the cultural association with misfortune or their reputation for eating holes in wool sweaters.

But if more people saw them in a positive light, they might take more action to protect them.

Yael Beer, 25, attended the AMNH’s event with their sister after hearing about it from a friend. While Beer said they weren’t knowledgeable about insects and recently graduated with a master’s in musicology, they said attending educational events can be important.

Beer said just as voting and involvement in your local community are a part of one’s civic duty, so is staying informed.

“I think that also extends to caring about the animal kingdom in your area, and making it a real effort to learn about it, to listen to professionals, and to take in new information and see what it is that you can do in your everyday life to improve that,” Beer said.

With 15 years under its belt, National Moth Week has excelled at drawing out both “bug nerds” and people interested in learning something about the inhabitants of their neighborhood. Blending these two groups is important in leading the conversation towards action.

“If insects don’t make it, we don’t make it,” Ware said.