Okay, so we can’t be sure this is actually a world first, but as far as we know it is! Up until now we’ve attracted moths and other insects at night by hanging a mercury vapour bulb beside the pale wall outside the back door of the lodge(with another bulb at the conservation centre). This has been highly success, contributing greatly to our first publication A Guide to the Hawkmoths of the Serra dos Orgaos, South-eastern Brazil, however, this was far from ideal and so we have designed and built a purpose built moth wall in the lodge garden.

The wall will be fitted with a mercury vapour bulb and a black mercury vapour bulb on both sides, and includes a shelf for holding collecting pots and a roof to keep the moths dry. In out excitement we even started using the wall before it was finished. So far the wall has attracted a huge number of moths, including many species of hawkmoths, dragonflies, crickets, praying mantis, butterflies and beetles, including a beautiful male Harlequin Beetle Acrocinus longimanus.

We can’t wait to see what the wall attracts in the future. For more on the moth wall click here.