Friday, 12 May 2017

Micro ID help needed

At long last a much better catch last night. 31 moths of  22 species of which 11 were new for the year for me. The most notable were probably a Coronet and a Treble Lines the latter being much earlier than last year. If anyone could help with these two micros it would be much appreciated.




The first was about 4.5mm in length. The second 9mm plus the antennae. Now I have posted the image I realise the second looks like a Diamond-back although quite a large individual?


Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris, Oxon.



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3 comments:

  1. Dave Wilton12 May 2017 at 21:02

    The second one is indeed Plutella xylostella, Andy. As to the first, probably an Elachista and at that size maybe canapennella but it is really too far gone to ID without resorting to dissection.

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  2. Andy Newbold13 May 2017 at 09:24

    Thank you. I thought the first was a bit too battered. Just how common or otherwise are Coronets in this area? I see that they are quite unusual in Warwickshire and I am only a mile from the border. Last year I recorded 59 with 13 on one night. Along with Marbled Green they seem a species that is doing well in the garden here. I'm afraid I'll have a few more questions later today when I have finished going through last night's catch. I do really appreciate all the help.

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  3. Dave Wilton13 May 2017 at 15:49

    Looking at my own garden records for Coronet, it first appeared in 2008 and I had a couple of records per year from then until 2012 when it started to increase:

    2012 (10); 2013 (105); 2014 (33); 2015 (111); 2016 (66)

    So far this year I've seen one on 5th May in a local wood but it hasn't yet appeared in the garden. It used to be regarded as a very local species and was seldom found in numbers but has undergone a noticeable population explosion in our area this decade.

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