Monday, 11 June 2018

Mottled Rustics?

A moth I caught a couple of nights ago is similar to two others found at about this time in previous years, but I have been a little unsure about identifying (see comparison below for these moths showing Rustic/Uncertain-like features but a relatively dark kidney mark and small somewhat diffuse oval mark, with 'wavy' crosslines and a dark sub-terminal band). Can someone confirm that these are Mottled Rustics or come up with a better ID?  As noted before, these are photographed under standard conditions with a millimeter ruler and corrected for colour balance. 


John Thacker
Harwell, Oxon

2 comments:

  1. Hi John, they're all Mottled Rustics, the smudgy/blurred orbicular and reniform stigma are diagnostic. These features are well-defined in Uncertain and Rustic.

    Also, although not mentioned in my books, there's a rusty orange band that runs through both in typical examples which, in conjunction with the above, I personally find helpful.

    Nigel

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  2. Thanks, Nigel. I hope that these examples, and your additional comments, will also be of use to others!

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