Here in central Oxford I enjoyed a good catch last night from my Actinic trap in the humid conditions. I've managed to ID most of them but have a few that I still need help on. I've made educated guesses on most of them which just require confirmation or correction but one has me stumped completely.
Adam
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| Ortholepis betulae? |
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| Aethes smeathmanniana? |
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| Is this just a strangely marked Blastobasis adustella? |
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| No idea on this one |
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| Nut Bud Moth? |
Hello Adam,
ReplyDeleteThose are Acrobasis advenella, Aethes smeathmanniana, Blastobasis advenella, the dark form of Prays fraxinella and Epinotia tenerana.
Thanks very much for that Dave. I assume that you mean Blastobasis adustella and not advenella above!
ReplyDeleteSlip of the keyboard...!
DeleteDoesn't the overall greyish tone of the Acrobasis moth and the fact that the discal spots are black and aligned vertically (rather than reddish and aligned obliquely) suggest A. suavella rather than A. advenella?
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid not, John, the red head confirms that it is advenella.
DeleteI find those Acrobasis types really difficult. So a red head is always A. advenella then?
DeleteHi Adam, In answer to your question, as Dave says, the red head an important diagnostic - or more broadly the head is normally redder than the base of the wing in A. advenella, while the opposite is usually the case for A. suavella. I'm no expert on these moths, but for an overall key to the different Acrobasis species, Chris Lewis's website is very informative (https://britishlepidoptera.weebly.com/acrobasis.html). Click on the photos and you will see several examples of each species (I think each has been checked by dissection, which is not true for other web collections of photos). As he notes, similarly to my comments above (which you will find in field guides), there are other criteria than head redness (which I find difficult to judge sometimes, including in your example) that can be used to distinguish these species. One he finds important is the angle at which the antemedian (white) line approaches the dorsum - at 90 degrees for A. advenella but obliquely for A. suavella. On your example it is difficult to tell (needs a photo from above)....
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