I seem to be continuing my run of good fortune in finding rare moths in my garden. After a Marbled Pug in May and Phtheochroa sodaliana a week or so ago, last Friday night I caught a single Monochroa palustrellus. I'm reasonably sure about its identity as there doesn't seem to be anything with which it can be confused: both the Norfolk Moths website and Martin Harvey's Berks micro-moth verification guidelines describe it as "distinctive".
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Monochroa palustrellus
Newton Longville 19th June
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| Monochroa palustrellus, Newton Longville 19th June |
Tim Arnold
Newton Longville, Bucks
Sorry to spoil your fun, Tim, but have a look at Anarsia innoxiella...
ReplyDeleteGoing back to the Monochroa family for a moment, I happened to be looking at their records today because I had either lutulentella or lucidella in the garden trap last night (I get both here) and it'll need dissection to confirm the species. There are only two Bucks records for the smart-looking palustrellus but one is in your neck of the woods so it remains a possibility - one day!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dave. I'll keep looking for M. pallustrellus! A. innoxiella feeds on Acer, and I have one Acer campestris in the garden and there's no shortage of it in the hedgerows and copses hereabouts.
ReplyDeleteAt least I've found a micro-moth that isn't in the Sterling, Parsons & Lewington field guide - even if in doing so I fell into the trap mentioned in bold on page 7 that "It would be unfortunate […] if this guide led to misidentification through readers trying to shoe-horn every micro-moth found into species illustrated here".