Apple Valley Resident Discovers Moths New To Iowa

APPLE VALLEY, MN— A study conducted by a 2020 Luther College graduate originally from Apple Valley has uncovered seven new species of moths never before found in Iowa, the college said.

Lena Schmitt worked with biology professor Kirk Larsen and collected over 12,000 moths from the forests and prairies surrounding Luther and found 99 species that had never been documented in Winneshiek County and seven that had never been seen in Iowa, the college said.

Schmitt was a student at the time of this project, the college said.

The seven new species to the state are the carpenterworm moth, the crocus geometer, the mobile groundling moth, the dusky herpetogramma moth and the beautiful sparganothis moth, the college said.

"Many groups of insects besides butterflies or beetles tend to be understudied in general," Schmitt said. "Because of this, in most areas we don't even know what types of moths are around or what type of habitat they prefer to live in."

There had only been one other intensive moth study in the county in 1908, the college said. Schmitt and Larsen's work provides a baseline for learning about the biodiversity of the area, the college said.

Participating in this project has given Schmitt experience in the field.

"Not only did Lena take the lead on writing up the results of this project, she also presented her results at national meetings of the Entomological Society of America in St. Louis, Missouri," Larsen said. "In the student research competition that included students from large universities with entomology departments, Lena won first place for her presentation on this moth research. This research project is an example of the quality and kind of transformative experiences that students at Luther College receive that prepare them for careers in science."

Schmitt has also seen this project affect her outside of school.

"It's already had an enormous effect on my career," Schmitt said. "Very few undergraduate students can say that they've already published a paper in a scientific journal, and that's made me a very competitive applicant for graduate schools and jobs. Even the smaller in-class research projects that are common in the environmental biology courses give Luther students an advantage over students who may have never done hands-on research before and it is great resume material."