Unknown makes unloved
Moths are very unknown to many people. Which is logical because the animals are mainly active at night. There are about 2400 different species in the Netherlands. A subdivision is made in macros with about 900 representatives and micros with the other 1500 species.
Although many people think of moths as nocturnal (insects), this is not always the case. Over a hundred species of moths are active during the day. Known species are the Silver Y (Autographa gamma), the Six-spot Burnet (Zygaena filipendulae) and the Hummingbird Hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum), a species that hovers like a hummingbird in front of flowers, and with its long retractable tongue pick up nectar.
Those 2400 species range from very little ones (which sometimes are not micros) to serious big ones like the Goat Moth (Cossus cossus) with a wingspan up to 42 mm or the Convolvulus Hawk-moth (Agrius convolvuli) whose wingspan can reach can reach up to 55 mm.
Some moths are a bit boring, but there is also a lot of beautifully coloured moths that can rival butterflies in colour.
Below you will find an overview with all the Dutch macro- and micromoths on my website, so you can also enjoy this nightly color splendor. Unfortunately I cannot arrange them yet alphabetically by their English name.
To easily find a moth species you can also go to the overview page, where all species are listed alphabetically by name. With a hyperlink you can go to a page with photos of the relevant species.
In my blogs I will occasionally highlight a moth species.
Macromoths
