Not in the trap, but attracted to front door lights (albeit actinic), a nice garden first.
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In addition, a Dark Sword-grass (seemingly scarce here (Stoke Goldington, N. Bucks)), but also another dark Noctuid.
I was suspecting perhaps a melanistic Square-spot Rustic, but what are the id pointers to look for when encountering a specimen as dark as this?
Hi Keith. The sub-terminal line interested me: it's thick and dark near the leading edge, but fades away progressively towards the trailing edge. That reminds me of a Lesser Yellow Underwing, which the overall shape seems to fit, but I would really have wanted to see pale outlines around the oval and kidneys. I have found some examples online without the pale outlines, so Lesser Yellow Underwing is my hunch. Let's see what others say!
ReplyDeleteHi Keith, I would favour your suspicion of Square-spot Rustic: the presence of the expected cross-line shapes (the sub-terminal as Tim has noted rather broad but I think that it is emphasised due to the overall dark colouration), the angled oval mark, and the 'flat' inner edge of the kidney mark. I have put a similar, though less dark, example on the UT Moth Atlas.
ReplyDeleteHi Keith,
ReplyDeleteI'm sure John is correct with Square-spot Rustic, and you can actually just about see the "square spot". It is a highly variable moth and this one is certainly at the darkest end of the spectrum. Tim mentions Lesser Yellow Underwing (usually notably larger than Square-spot Rustic) which does serve to show how useful it can be in situations like this to have some indication of size. Placing a ruler next to the moth when it is photographed can be very helpful.