Tuesday 28 September 2021

Smart-looking moths and some not so smart-looking

In terms of species found in the last couple of weeks, I have little to report of interest.  Another Autumnal Rustic and a rather late Endotricha flammealis is about the sum of it.

The progress of the season has shown itself in how smart or otherwise the moths look.  Square-spot Rustics are now looking very worn - there has been a handful of probable SSRs that I haven't recorded because they lacked almost any identifiable markings and I didn't feel sufficiently confident using size and wing shape alone.  One fairly fresh-looking example was the exception to prove the rule on the 24th.  On the other hand, in addition to the Autumnal Rustics, there have been smart-looking Black Rustic, Brown-spot Pinion and a very well-marked Brick.  Even a couple of Deep-brown Darts have managed to look well-turned-out in their drab way.

Brown-spot Pinion
Newton Longville, 24th September 2021

Brick
Newton Longville, 24th September 2021

The identification of two moths is causing me some head-scratching.  For the first I have considered and rejected candidates amongst the Blastobasis, Blastodacna and Diurnea.  Forewing length is just over 6mm.  Unfortunately, the moth escaped before I could take a better photograph than the one below - despite it being just out of the fridge.
Newton Longville, 19th September 2021

The second moth was almost the last moth I took out of the trap on the 24th and it is unable to fold away one of its hindwings.  Being able to see its hindwing easily ought to mean that I have an extra way to identify it, but the markings on both fore- and hind-wings have not led me to any conclusions.  There is something about the forewing shape and markings that is giving an itch deep in my memory, but to no avail.  Help appreciated!
Newton Longville, 24th September 2021


Tim Arnold
Newton Longville, Bucks



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3 comments:

  1. Nigel28 September 2021 at 08:02

    Hi Tim, I think the first of your queries is Scrobipalpa costella, the second being Galleria mellonella.

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  2. Dave Wilton28 September 2021 at 14:31

    I agree with Nigel on both. Galleria mellonella (Wax Moth) is a moth that catches a lot of people out because it is so chunky, rather like a noctuid. One to remember!

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  3. Tim Arnold28 September 2021 at 19:09

    Thank you both. At least I now know why I had that itch deep in my memory: a search in my database tells me that I did actually get an example of Galleria mellonella once before: in France in July last year, and a trawl through my photos shows it was in good condition. Looking at my notebook from the time, I don't seem to have had any problem in identifying it then! (No crossing-out, no "TBD" before the name which is usually an indication that I had to wait until I had looked at its photo first before I could write down a name, no-one else named as the determiner).

    That moth and the gelechid are both new for the garden list here. I see that the larval foodplant for Scrobipalpa costella is Bittersweet, and my local blackberrying forays have shown that there's lots of that in the hedgerows around the adjacent field.

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