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Friday, 3 January 2020

Pearly Underwing or Turnip?

I have been adding my last year's records to iRECORD as usual at this time of year and this one has been queried by the County Moth Recorder. The moth was attracted to light on 25 June 2019 (photo on grey background with mm ruler).  After initially considering it as another Turnip moth (but with little evidence of a 'club' mark), on examining the underwings (see below) I concluded that it might be a Pearly Underwing (although the photo doesn't really show the bluey-white sheen on the underwing).  Martin Harvey suggested that I might put this on the blog to get other opinions - he commented "It's a very odd moth, with the orbicular stigma greatly elongated and the claviform stigma obscured. It doesn't look right for Pearly Underwing to me, partly due to the wing shape, partly due to the markings and partly due to the lack of a grey line in the cilia of the hindwing."
Thanks for any input, as ever.


John Thacker
Harwell, Oxon
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4 comments:

  1. Marc Botham3 January 2020 at 14:41

    Hi John,

    For me it's a Turnip, for all the same reasons as Martin lists , especially the wing shape which in my experiences are longer and more pointed in PW. Best wishes, Marc

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dave Wilton3 January 2020 at 18:14

    Hello John,

    Yes, that's Turnip (a female) for me too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Martin Harvey4 January 2020 at 10:07

    Thanks to John for posting this, and to Marc and Dave for their views, good to be able to gather extra opinions via the blog!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dave Wilton4 January 2020 at 13:20

    I think occasionally we get led astray by looking too hard at the minutiae of markings on moths when what is needed most is to sit back and just take in the moth as a whole. I've been guilty of trying to turn the occasional Turnip into a Pearly Underwing myself before now but the general wing-shape and appearance of this one shout Turnip to me.

    ReplyDelete

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