I saw this moth at Aston Rowant NNR this afternoon I think it's Pyrausta despicata. Could you confirm that for me?.Also seen Forester and Common Purple and Gold
S. Lockey (Garsington)
A Blog for moth recorders in Bucks, Berks and Oxon
A Blog for moth recorders in Bucks, Berks and Oxon
Hi Steve, yes that is Pyrausta despicata, while the Forester will have been Cistus Forester. What do you mean by Common Purple and Gold?
ReplyDeleteDave, I got the title from Britain's day flying moths by Newland ,etc. Pyrausta purpuralis it's Latin name, not aurata. They give the English name,so to speak, before the Latin. I did manage a good photo even though it was hard work in the grass!.
ReplyDeleteUnderstood - it is probably best to stick to scientific names for micros here, as you did for Pyrausta despicata, because that's what most of us understand. Over the years there have been several attempts to impose 'English' names, starting with Ian Heslop's list from 1947 but, apart from some pest species, few have stuck and the names on subsequent attempts at lists don't all agree anyway. In my experience few people actually use them.
DeleteI'm glad that you got a good view of Pyrausta purpuralis because, as I hope the book indicates, telling purpuralis and aurata apart is not easy and requires a good view of the hindwings.
Thanks for that info, Dave because in the afore mentioned book the illustration of aurata doesn't show the two smaller markings on the leading edge as it does on purpuralis which it obviously does according to the micro moths of GB book. So I've re-looked at the photo and the illustrations in Micro-Moths and it would appear I got it right but possibly for the wrong reason!.
ReplyDeleteThanks again.