Tytroca or Ozarba sp.? Ivoloina park, Madagascar

This ends our 2019 Madagascar mothing series! Some closing words:

Madagascar mothing was an uphill battle, mostly because we were there off-season. In comparison to our wild first tropical mothing experience in Colombia (2018):

• Moths of Colombia - 2018

...we had to lower expectations significantly. In a way, we peaked very early in our young mothing "career". The Colombia mothing experience was so overwhelming that we could hardly breath due to the amount of moths, and they would constantly block photography as they were on flash and inside the lens. On the cloth, they were so numerous as to constantly overlap.

Not so much during winter in Madagascar. At best, there were a few dozen on the cloth, and we had to fight hard to photograph them amidst rain and wind. We squeezed the maximum out of every yield, as it was all we could do.

The result is 225 photos, spread across roughly 200 species. Given conditions, I'm happy with the numbers. It's not spectacular, but it's not nothing either. We were simply spoiled early on. And I take joy in the obscurity of it. Mothing in Africa does not seem common and even less common in Madagascar.

Here's the final set, and a special thanks to Christine Young for the incredible help with identification:

• Moths of Madagascar - 2019

If the universe does not block our plan, our next major mothing revenge will be in Ecuador, coming November.