Monday, 20 March 2023

"Drab" antennae

Prompted by John Thacker's recent comment on my posting 'Lead-coloured Drab?', I decided to look more closely at the differences between the antennae of incerta and populeti.

None of the images online seem very clear, so I examined the antenna of a male incerta caught last night, photo below, which seems to show that it has a different structure from populeti—saw-toothed rather than comb-like, with fine hairs on the end of each tooth. Given that the image I posted in my query showed a comb-like structure, albeit with the 'teeth' not quite as long as might be expected, this is consistent with it being populeti, as Dave W had concluded.

incerta male

populeti male

                                                                        Original post

I don't imagine I have found anything that is not already known, but I personally found it an instructive exercise!

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