The tortrix below was found this afternoon at the end of my garden. It looks to me like Epiblema cirsiana, but does it need examination to distinguish it from similar species?
Hi Steve, it is difficult to be 100% sure of this little group but food-plant is often helpful. It is not colourful enough to be costipunctana (feeds on ragwort) but you are still left with scutulana (thistles), cirsiana (knapweed and marsh thistle), sticticana (colt's-foot) or cnicicolana (fleabane, a rare moth but there is at least one record for Berkshire). You may well be correct but unless there's a direct connection with the food-plant I think I'd want it dissected!
Hi Steve, it is difficult to be 100% sure of this little group but food-plant is often helpful. It is not colourful enough to be costipunctana (feeds on ragwort) but you are still left with scutulana (thistles), cirsiana (knapweed and marsh thistle), sticticana (colt's-foot) or cnicicolana (fleabane, a rare moth but there is at least one record for Berkshire). You may well be correct but unless there's a direct connection with the food-plant I think I'd want it dissected!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave. When I found it, it was resting on the top of our open compost bin so I can't tie it to any particular plant. I will hang on to it.
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