Goldenrod Stowaway Moth, and the time it can take to tell a pictorial story

A field painted gold with the showy inflorescences of Tall Goldenrod (Solidago altissima). Not Canada Goldenrod (S. canadensis), as nearly everyone calls this stuff. The tale of these two look-alike goldenrods will have to await another day, though.

Tall Goldenrod is a conspicuous and highly productive plant of old fields, meadows and other open well-drained habitats. As is typically the case with very common native plants, goldenrods spawn legions of interesting insects that have co-evolved with them, and host scores of others that dine on the goldenrod's abundant nectar and pollen or use the plants in other ways.

This little gem is a Goldenrod Stowaway Moth (Cirrhophanus triangulifera), and it's well-named. While another group of plants in the Sunflower Family (Asteraceae) actually does the heavy lifting in producing this moth, once the Goldenrod Stowaway pops from its cocoon, it's off to the goldenrods. During the day, the beautiful burnt-orange and lemon moth nestles among the flowers of goldenrod, its colors blending well with the myriad tiny flowers. At night, it taps the flowers' nectar as the one in my photo is doing.

I photographed this one on the same species of goldenrod as in the first photo, back on September 7, 2015. The caterpillars of Goldenrod Stowaway are equally cool, and I had wanted to see one for as long as I've been aware of this moth's existence. But, as is often the case, it took quite some time to catch up to the cat.

This is the other botanical ingredient necessary to foster Goldenrod Stowaways: plants in the genus Bidens. I took the above photo just two days ago, and it shows a fine tangle of Northern Tickseed-sunflower (Bidens trichosperma). At least some Bidens, this species included, are the only food plants for the interesting larvae of the Goldenrod Stowaway. Specialization on a single plant genus is common in the moth world.

There are about a dozen species of Bidens in the Midwest and the minority have showy ray flowers like this one. Most have only discoid flowers - just the little button in the center and no conspicuous yellow rays. I do not know if Goldenrod Stowaway caterpillars eat all Bidens species, but they definitely feed on Northern Tickseed-sunflower.

Bidens are often known as beggar's-ticks and this is why. All of our species have seeds (technically, achenes) that are armed with stiff awns. Because of these awns, the seeds stick to passersby, sometimes in copious quantities. I took this photo of my jacket sleeve after a fall peregrination through a wet meadow a few years ago. Many plants use mammalian dispersal as a migratory tactic, and Bidens do this very well.

Anyway, in a strange twist I was on the phone a few days ago with Chelsea Gottfried, my coauthor on an upcoming book on moths (more on that to come) and asked her to go outside to check on a plant that we used an image of in our book. The Northern Tickseed-sunflower was all around where she was checking, and she noticed the above caterpillars feeding on the flowering heads.

Bingo! The well-camouflaged larva of the Goldenrod Stowaway Moth! That's its head at top and to the left. Even though the fully grown cats are an inch or more long, their golden and brown tones make them one with the aging flowers and they're tough to see.

As this site is only an hour from my house, and there were a few birds to be killed by making a visit, I was there the following morning. The Goldenrod Stowaway caterpillars were still present, and I saw about six of them. It only took seven years from the last time that I photographed the moth to capture the larval part of its lifecycle. Still missing the cocoon and egg, but those things are REALLY hard to find. It would probably involve raising a moth through its entire lifecycle in a controlled situation to guarantee opportunities to shoot all four phases of its being.

But to most people, myself included, the moth and caterpillar are probably the coolest aspects of the animal. They are certainly the easiest to find, in most cases, but as I have learned many times over, it may take years to piece together the photos.