Friday, 6 March 2015

First Moth of the year! ID please

I've run the trap a few times nothing. This one turned up on the kitchen window and I found another one inside.

I'm thinking Agonopterix heracliana - I had a quick look at the underside, yellowish brown, no pink I could see.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford


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3 comments:

  1. Dave Wilton6 March 2015 at 19:04

    If you've checked the underside, Mark, then I think that's good for heracliana. As I'm sure you're aware, the confusion species is Agonopterix ciliella which is larger and usually noticeably pink underneath. There is also a difference in markings on the hindwing cilia but in my opinion these are very difficult to see. Large specimens with a hint of pink underneath should really be dissected if you want to claim ciliella which doesn't seem to be anywhere near as common as heracliana locally.

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  2. Mark Griffiths6 March 2015 at 19:26

    thanks Dave!

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  3. Peter Hall11 March 2015 at 21:35

    Dissections don't help too much here Dave, the bits look remarkably similar, but I have found that the cilia do show differences.

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