by Ken Ahlstrom | Aug 20, 2015 | Expert Advice
This beauty was visiting the butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa in my front yard about 2 weeks ago. It is known as the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, Papilio glaucus, and is easily recognized by its large size and bright yellow and black coloration. It ranges...
by Ken Ahlstrom | Aug 13, 2015 | Expert Advice
Have you seen this moth? It is the Giant Leopard Moth, Hypercompe scribonia (Stoll, 1790) and is one of our largest moths with a wingspread ranging from 2¼ inches to slightly over 3½ inches. It belongs to the moth subfamily Arctiinae or Tiger Moths which contains...
by Ken Ahlstrom | Aug 13, 2015 | Expert Advice
Get ready! In the next couple of months, we are going to start seeing evidence of the caterpillars of this moth, the orangestriped oakworm. During mid-June to mid-July, the adults (Figure 1) emerge from their underground pupal cells. Mating occurs during the day and...
by Ken Ahlstrom | Aug 10, 2015 | Expert Advice
It is known as the Rosy Maple Moth and is a native moth in the same family as the Luna Moth and the Polyphemus Moth (some of the largest moths in North Carolina). As the name implies, the caterpillars mainly feed on maple trees, especially red, silver, and sugar...
by Ken Ahlstrom | May 27, 2015 | Expert Advice
This morning, May 26, 2015, as I was opening the door to Economy Exterminators in Apex, NC, I noticed what appeared to a load of bird dropping on the back door. Sometime didn’t look right because it didn’t have the flattened appearance of a bird bomb launched on a...
by Ken Ahlstrom | Nov 17, 2014 | Expert Advice
Are you seeing spots before your eyes? Especially on the side of your house, on your car, or on your plants outdoors? (Fig. 1) Often mistaken for scales, these tiny dark spots are coming from a group of fungi known as artillery fungi. Additional names are “cannon” or...
