Back on 31st March (mentioned here) I got a very plain-looking Caloptilia in the garden trap alongside an obvious Caloptilia semifascia. The unidentified example has now been dissected and proved to be Caloptilia falconipennella which is new for the site. This is an alder-feeding species and hopefully has taken up residence on the tree planted in our garden several years ago (there is otherwise little alder in the local area). It has become garden moth species number 1,021.
 |
| Caloptilia falconipennella, Westcott 31st March |
While on the subject of post-hibernation Gracillariids, on 24th March I got another Caloptilia which I couldn't place with certainty so this one had also been saved for dissection. It proved to be a spotty example of Caloptilia elongella, another alder-feeding species which hasn't been recorded in the garden since 2006.
 |
| Caloptilia elongella, Westcott 24th March |
On 27th May I thought I'd caught a Pammene species in the trap which would also have been new for the site (mentioned here), however after dissection this proved to be a rather well-marked example of Epinotia immundana. I don't think I've seen one with such a bright dorsal blotch previously, but there are other clues (the shape of the palps in particular) which should should have indicated to me that this was Epinotia and not Pammene. Oh well!
 |
| Epinotia immundana, Westcott 27th May |
Grateful thanks as usual go to Peter Hall for doing the necessary microscopic work.
Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks
It was brightly coloured, but Lepiforum has an identical one (immundana) showing on their site - the first image if you go there to look
ReplyDelete