Saturday 1 June 2019

Clearwing for confirmation

I put my newly purchased CUL lure out in the garden this afternoon about 4:20 pm, and before I could finish my cup of tea I had a visitor to the trap. I think this is definitely the Large Red-belted Clearwing, but as lures occasionally attract the "wrong" clearwing I thought I would check.

 
 
Steve Trigg, Cookham
 
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4 comments:

  1. Martin Albertini1 June 2019 at 22:52

    I'm certainly no expert with clearwings, but I can't see the red around the base of the wings that Large Red-belted is supposed to have as one of the diagnostic features.
    Do you have a forewing length and do you have appropriate habitats for Large Red-belted and Red-belted nearby?

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  2. Adam Bassett1 June 2019 at 23:19

    Looks like Red-belted to me. They frequently come to the CUL lure.

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  3. Steve Trigg2 June 2019 at 08:15

    Thanks Martin and Adam. Having re-read all the information on these clearwings, I can see that it is a Red-belted. It lacks the red at the wing bases, although when viewed from the underside there is a reddish colour to the wings. In addition, the forewing length is just 10mm.
    Finally, I have 2 mature apple trees in the garden, as well as hawthorn, and there are further apple trees in neighbouring gardens. There is no birch nearby, so the local habitat is definitely suited to the Red-belted rather than the Large Red-belted. Based on the speed with which this individual arrived at the CUL lure, it must have been very close by.

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  4. Martin Albertini2 June 2019 at 09:16

    If you inspect the trunks of your apple trees you may see the pupal exuvia sticking out of the bark.

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