Moths in New Jersey: What's Flying Tonight

In New Jersey, the moths flying right now in midsummer are led by the small, orange day-active Ailanthus Webworm Moth (Atteva punctella), along with the green cloverworm moth (Hypena scabra), the painted lichen moth (Hypoprepia fucosa), and the invasive Spongy Moth (Lymantria dispar). You will also see grass moths like Crambus agitatellus and Microcrambus elegans at lights. By fall, geometers such as Prochoerodes lineola and the Ailanthus Webworm Moth carry the season.

What's flying in New Jersey right now

New Jersey's mix of pine barrens, hardwood forest, and suburban edge gives it a busy summer sheet. In July the most distinctive moth is the Ailanthus Webworm Moth (Atteva punctella), a slender orange-and-white day-flier tied to the tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima) that is so widespread in the state's disturbed ground. Around it you will find the painted lichen moth (Hypoprepia fucosa), the chocolate angle-leaf geometer relatives, the snout-style green cloverworm moth (Hypena scabra), Acrolophus popeanella, Pleuroprucha insulsaria, and a chorus of small grass moths like Crambus agitatellus and Microcrambus elegans.

One July regular deserves an honest label: the Spongy Moth (Lymantria dispar) is an introduced, invasive defoliator in North America, not a native, and New Jersey sees it heavily in outbreak years.

July vs. May vs. September

• May: spring leans toward the eastern tent caterpillar moth (Malacosoma americana), the Spongy Moth, Athetis tarda, Protoboarmia porcelaria, and Lacinipolia renigera.
• July: peak variety, headlined by the Ailanthus Webworm Moth, Hypoprepia fucosa, the Spongy Moth, and the grass moths.
• September: a leaner, geometrid-and-noctuid fall mix, with the Ailanthus Webworm Moth still abundant alongside Hypena scabra, Palthis asopialis, the large maple spanworm (Prochoerodes lineola), and Pleuroprucha insulsaria.

Mothing tips for New Jersey

Moths come to UV and short-wavelength light most strongly. The leading explanation is that artificial light disrupts their flight orientation (they try to hold a light at a fixed angle the way they would the moon), not that they actively seek it, so a UV or mercury-vapor bulb over a white sheet beats a white LED porch light. Warm, humid, still nights with little moon are best, and a forest or field edge will out-produce an open lawn. Check the good-mothing-night score and the good-night-for-moths guide before you set up.

New to this? Start with mothing for beginners. For tonight's prediction at your exact location, run the live tool, and compare with neighbors like New York or Pennsylvania via the state index.

A note for National Moth Week

National Moth Week 2026 runs July 18-26, right in New Jersey's peak season. See National Moth Week for how to take part and log your records.