Tuesday 27 February 2018

Early flour-ing moth

A couple of weeks ago I found a near-empty packet of flour in the kitchen cupboard that had signs of life: caterpillars! And today I found a moth on the inside of the kitchen window. Rather pleasingly, it was a species I've never seen before: the Mediterranean Flour Moth Ephestia kuehniella*, shown below on its flour-packet habitat.

While I wouldn't necessarily want every packet of flour to come with added protein in this way, I'm quite happy to have found this particular stowaway :)

* Query for Peter and Martin A: the genus Ephestia is a tricky one: this was dark grey and with wings 13mm long, so I think it should be kuehniella, but let me know if you need confirmation.



Martin Harvey, Great Kimble, Bucks
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4 comments:

  1. Peter Hall27 February 2018 at 19:22

    Dave makes me chop every Ephestia, so bring it with you please.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Martin Harvey27 February 2018 at 19:44

    Is Dave arguing with the national micro-moth guidelines?! Will hang on to it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Robert Payne27 February 2018 at 19:54

    I really hope it that it is the only one you find.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Martin Albertini27 February 2018 at 21:24

    With the situation the larvae and the timing I'd be happy with kuehniella. If not spotted,the larvae make a nice protein supplement in porridge & muesli etc. I've experienced the former.

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