Local moths topic of book displayed at Werner

The public is invited to come and browse through Dwaine Wagner’s newest book titled “Natrona County Moths” now on display at the Werner Wildlife Museum.

According to Wagner, he began the book by popular demand after creating the “Natrona County Butterflies” book in 2011. The new book contains Wagner’s photos and text on 379 moth species. Nearly every photo was verified by a taxonomist at the Butterflies and Moths of North America website, Wagner said.

Wagner, a longtime volunteer at the Werner and Tate Geological museums at Casper College, described himself as “a 73-year-old curmudgeon with a high school diploma and an advanced degree of curiosity.” Growing up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, “I always had an intimate association with nature. In 2008 I bought a digital point-and-shoot camera and tried to see how many of the 112 butterfly species the website listed I could document in Natrona County,” Wagner said.

While photographing butterflies, Wagner discovered that he was also photographing day-flying moths. “At that time only 15 moth species were recorded in Natrona County, an absurdly small number. I set out to change that so we would at least have a decent baseline of what is here,” he noted. In addition to “Natrona County Moths,” Wagner’s earlier book, “Natrona County Butterflies” is also on display at the Werner.

The Werner Wildlife Museum is located off the Casper College campus at 405 E. 15th Street. For more information, call the museum at 307-235-2108 or email indiahayford@caspercollege.edu.