Any clues on these from Iver last night?! And why did I catch an August Thorn, when it's June? Barnaby Briggs
?Coleophora albitarsella?
Above and below: Why doesn't this look more like a Dark Fruit Tree Tortrix?
A Blog for moth recorders in Bucks, Berks and Oxon
Hello Barnaby, August Thorn usually starts appearing locally during the first or second week of July and we're not too far away from that now. September Thorn appears around the same time and we have had a few previous records in late-June - I take it you are certain of the ID (they can be difficult to separate)?
ReplyDeleteThe Coleophorid is probably something like mayrella or deauratella but of that whole family group (about 100 species) very few indeed are identifiable from photos and they nearly all need genitalia inspection. The second moth is Blastodacna hellerella while the third looks to me like Bryotropha terrella. The final pair are both Cnephasia species and again they need dissection to separate.
A couple of hints when asking for IDs: try cropping your photos to get rid of some of the excessive background so that we get a larger picture of the moth itself. Size is important so try laying a ruler next to the moth before you photograph it. And don't forget to add your name at the end of the post (I've done it for you this time!).
Just to add, your Coleophorid is Coleophora mayrella. As you are local, the offer is there for me to chop critical moths like Cnephasia's and other micros. You can contact me off group if you have some to get id'd that way and I can give you more details on how to keep them and get them to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for updating your name for the group. Your last post broke all records for number of comments!
Many thanks for the comments, and sorry for any confusion on names of the humans - the moth names are bad enough! But hellarella is a great name.
ReplyDelete