Category Archives: White Studio

Pupal case (after emergence)

In the spring of 2012 my brother gave me a pupal case that he had found while digging in the garden. I had no clue what it would be, but I placed it in a container with some leaves and a damp sponge, and waited. I would check on it occasionally, and the last time I checked it was the day of our departure (10 July) for the family holiday to Newfoundland. A last minute visit to the Nature Study to turn off the computer and feed the wee beasties gave me the chance to take a look at the container and, sure enough, there was a freshly emerged and somewhat disheveled looking moth nestling in the corner of the container. What to do? With a trip to the airport just moments away, I grabbed my camera with flash, a macro lens, some white background material and then rushed to the patio. I set up quickly on the patio table, placed the moth on the white background and took six photographs. Before long it was vibrating its wings like a madmanbeast, and I knew that I had only moments to take more photos…

Too late! Off it flew into the garden.

Bedstraw Hawkmoth or Galium Sphinx, Hyles gallii (Rottemburg, 1775)

Here is one of the better shots, with the trail of yellow goo (there is probably a name for that) it left behind Photshop’ed into nothingness…

(ID’d at Insects of Alberta. Photograph taken with Canon T2i, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Autofocus Lens and a Speedlite 580EX II with diffuser. ISO 200, 1/200th sec. @f11)