Good morning! This from my Wokingham, Berks garden last night. I have it down as Y. padella/malinellus. Sterling and Parsons suggests these are all but impossible to separate, even by dissection. Any suggestions as to which is more likely?
Also thought I would share this rather pristine Large Emerald - first this year.
Hello Sean,
ReplyDeleteThe Yponomeuta species cagnagella, malinellus and padella cannot be reliably separated unless you rear the larvae from the appropriate food-plant (spindle, apple or hawthorn/blackthorn respectively). Even then, who's to say they aren't all one and the same species which uses a variety of food-plants? The adult genitalia are identical so dissection doesn't help at all. Best just to record them as an aggregate, or (dare I say) ignore them altogether! Others in the group can be done with care because they have differences in appearance which are constant.
Nice picture of the Large Emerald. Such a lovely moth!
Plenty of the latter two food plants around us-not sure about Spindle. Thanks, Dave
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