It’s a harsh landscape with dry, sandy soil, stunted trees and shrubby plants like scrub oak and lowbush blueberry. The island is a stronghold for an imperiled habitat known as a pitch pine-scrub oak barrens. Much of Martha’s Vineyard, it turns out, is moth heaven. “There are examples of habitats out there that are unique or the best of their kind in the region.” “It’s just an amazing place,” said Goldstein, who spent his boyhood summers chasing moths on the Vineyard. (Courtesy Mike Nelson)Īnd one of the few places it lives in New England is Martha Vineyard. He said the moth is called “sack bearer” because it makes itself a little sleeping bag out of silk and leaves.
It's beautiful,” said Paul Goldstein, the curator of moths and butterflies at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. The pattern on its wings looks like a sunset. It’s safe to say that most people don’t visit Martha’s Vineyard for the moths.īut maybe that’s because they've never met a moth like the Melsheimer’s Sack-bearer. The frost bottom is the section with green trees in the middle.
Aerial photo of the Medicine Lots site on Martha's Vineyard.
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