Saturday 9 May 2020

Warm weather brings more identification challenges

Like others have been reporting, the warmer weather has brought more moths.  On Friday night I had twenty-seven species, of which no fewer than eight were new for the garden list and seven more were first-of-the-year. It took me several hours on Saturday to work through nearly seventy moths, and even though I think I got the Pugs sorted (Mottled, Oak-tree, Common), I am left needing some help or confirmation on three individuals.

The moth on my new-for-the-garden list that seems to be unusual is Spuleria flavicaput. The scale tufts helped with the ID. I can't find any Bucks (VC24) records on the NBN Atlas (noting other remarks on this blog about problems with data feed). There seem to be few records on websites for other counties: all-time counts of 5 in VC22 (Berks), 17 in VC30 (Beds) and annual single-digits in other counties.  Moreover, the moth is described as diurnal, yet it came to light. Unfortunately, I released the moth before I realised it might be unusual.
The second needing confirmation I think is a weakly-marked, female Epiphyas postvittana. I caught six males on Friday night - and I frequently get them - but I've never found the female before.
The third moth has eluded even a provisional identification, except that I think it is from the Gelechiidae. Forewing length is about 5mm.


I still have the by-catch to identify. There was quite a variety of caddisflies and Ichneumons on Friday night: I expect that I will make reasonable progress with the caddis, but the Ichneumons will be a challenge.  There is a useful beginners guide on the Natural History Museum website. At least I recognised the Black Sexton Beetle (Nicrophorus humator) with its payload of mites.

Tim Arnold
Newton Longville, Bucks
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6 comments:

  1. Gordon Redford9 May 2020 at 19:12

    Hi Tim,
    I think your first is Tinea trinotella. I had one myself last night.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nigel9 May 2020 at 19:37

    Hi Tim,

    Not a species I've seen but agree with your ID of Spuleria flavicaput. I don't think there are confusion species, perhaps someone can confirm?

    Nice one!
    Nigel

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tim Arnold9 May 2020 at 19:40

    Hi Gordon. I originally had it down as Tinea trinotella, but changed my mind for several reasons: trinotella holds its wings more tent-like; all of the photos that I've looked at are paler in the head and in the ground colour of the forewing (my photo is not enhanced in any way), and none of the descriptions mention any scale tufts. But I'd be happy to be corrected.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dave Wilton9 May 2020 at 20:11

    Hi all,
    That's definitely Spuleria flavicaput, a nice catch. It'll be something like the 10th record for Bucks and the furthest north as well. I agree with postvittana but the gelechiid will need the chop.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tim Arnold10 May 2020 at 00:02

    Thanks, Dave. We have a substantial number of young hawthorn plants in the garden (as well as half a dozen large ones), so good habitat - I see that the larva mines small twigs of hawthorn.
    Gordon - it might be worth taking a second look at any trinotella that you see: you might be able to beat my record for the furthest north flavicaput in Bucks! As I replied earlier, I initially had this down as trinotella.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gordon Redford10 May 2020 at 13:56

    Your record is safe because mine is trinotella. Apologies for not being more helpful.

    ReplyDelete

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