Hi Andy, it would be interesting to hear what the experts say about this but I tend to follow the analysis given by Chris Lewis in his British Lepidoptera page where the three similar Notocelia species are shown in detail: (https://britishlepidoptera.weebly.com/notocelia.html). While your moth is rather large for trimaculana (fw length 7-8.5 mm), the strength of the markings is perhaps closer to those expected for trimaculana than, say, roborana, but that is rather subjective. You might like to try measuring the costal markings as Chris Lewis has done on his page to see if you can identify the species!
Hi Andy, The choice of species is between trimaculana and rosaecolana. They can be tricky to separate but for this one the appearance of the costal strigulae means that I agree with your determination of trimaculana despite it being perhaps slightly on the large side. For me roborana doesn't even enter into the equation because it has a much cleaner appearance in the outer (whitish) two-thirds of the forewing. It can sometimes start flying in late June locally but is really a moth of July and August and I certainly haven't seen one yet this year.
Hi Andy, it would be interesting to hear what the experts say about this but I tend to follow the analysis given by Chris Lewis in his British Lepidoptera page where the three similar Notocelia species are shown in detail: (https://britishlepidoptera.weebly.com/notocelia.html). While your moth is rather large for trimaculana (fw length 7-8.5 mm), the strength of the markings is perhaps closer to those expected for trimaculana than, say, roborana, but that is rather subjective. You might like to try measuring the costal markings as Chris Lewis has done on his page to see if you can identify the species!
ReplyDeleteHi Andy,
ReplyDeleteThe choice of species is between trimaculana and rosaecolana. They can be tricky to separate but for this one the appearance of the costal strigulae means that I agree with your determination of trimaculana despite it being perhaps slightly on the large side. For me roborana doesn't even enter into the equation because it has a much cleaner appearance in the outer (whitish) two-thirds of the forewing. It can sometimes start flying in late June locally but is really a moth of July and August and I certainly haven't seen one yet this year.
Thank you both for your comments.
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