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 |
Newton Longville, 19th September 2021 |
Newton Longville, 24th September 2021 |
Hi Tim, I think the first of your queries is Scrobipalpa costella, the second being Galleria mellonella.
ReplyDeleteI 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!
ReplyDeleteThank 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).
ReplyDeleteThat 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.