The pheromone lures went out again this morning in the garden. Still no luck with Hornet Moth, but I did get a clearwing to the MYO lure at 1.25pm (I happened to be beside the trap when it arrived). Note that it was completely overcast at this point, although nice and warm. This red-belted moth caused me a bit of head scratching at first because to the naked eye it appeared to have all-black wings and the undersides of its palps were definitely white (both indications of Red-belted), even though there did seem to be rather a lot of white scales on the underside of the abdomen. However, once photographed it became clear that the wings did actually have a lot of red scales on them, both above and (particularly) below, so I came to the conclusion that this was a tired Red-tipped Clearwing, the second I've had in the garden this year - the first was on 22nd May. If anyone disagrees, please let me know! Unfortunately, both Red-tipped and Red-belted come to the MYO lure.
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| ?Red-tipped Clearwing, upper view, Westcott 23rd June |
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| ?Red-tipped Clearwing, underside view, Westcott 23rd June |
UPDATE: As I was packing up the lures at 3.50pm I found that the TIP pheromone had brought in a Currant Clearwing sometime within the previous 30 minutes. Note again that it was still overcast and had been so for about three hours, so they don't always require sunshine to fly.
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| Currant Clearwing, Westcott 23rd June |
Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to be certain but I would go for Red-belted. The longer thinner abdomen is what does it for me. In my limited experience of Red-tipped the abdomen tends to be shorter and fatter. The difference is clearly difficult to judge. Perhaps the experts could comment on this.
I see what you mean, Derek. My Red-tipped from a month ago certainly had a shorter, fatter body than today's example:
ReplyDeletesee https://upperthamesmoths.blogspot.com/2019/05/first-new-garden-species-of-2019.html)
This is where reference collections come into their own! Hopefully one of the Martins will be able to offer advice on separating the two. I've only had Red-belted here once before (three at the same time to the MYO lure back on 26th June 2011) so I'd be pleased to have confirmation that this is one too.
Red-belted is the most frequent clearwing in my garden and I think yours is one of these Dave.
ReplyDelete