At lunchtime today, I found a moth fluttering in front of a window in our utility room. After studying it with a hand lens and by blowing up the photos I took, I think it might be
Nemapogon cloacella (a.k.a. Cork Moth). However, the flight season is apparently April to September, so I would appreciate some help. I took the second photo to show the yellow head. Forewing length is about 7.5mm. I've retained it, just in case.
The larvae of
N. cloacella apparently feed on some kinds of bracket fungus, which I'm relieved to report is absent from the utility room! One of the sources I checked also mentioned an association with stored vegetable products. I keep some bird food in that room, albeit in sealed containers, and it's next to the kitchen, so perhaps that's how it got there.
Tim Arnold
Newton Longville
Hi Tim,
ReplyDeleteIt does look OK to me for Nemapogon cloacella. In the past I've had four indoor records of it during March (all confirmed by dissection) which I assumed were connected with fungus on logs brought in for the fire, but who really knows?!!
Thanks, Dave. The only other time I've found it was also indoors, on 22nd September last year, at the other end of the flight season.
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