First moth I have seen this month apart from a few in the car headlights. This was flying around the house. I think it is probably a well-marked Mompha subbistrigella although it is maybe a bit on the large size at almost 7mm in length.
Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris, Oxon.
On further investigation not Mompha. Nemapogon granella has been suggested as a possibility and some of the images on the Norfolk moths website certainly look similar. I see that granella is a grade 4 species.
ReplyDeleteHi Andy,
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is a Nemapogon and granella does indeed look closest although it should really be dissected to confirm. Not a common moth so that's a nice find.
Hi Andy. It does look like N. granella to me. I have had a small (and slowly shrinking) colony of granella in my kitchen/utility rooms for a few years as accidental imports with walnuts from the garden in France. In my case, the larvae appear to eat the dried and fibrous remains of the decomposed skins of the walnut shells, although I have yet to prove this conclusively.
ReplyDeleteOne of the ways of distinguishing granella from cloacella is that the dark mark in the middle of the leading edge of the forewing is often T-shaped (like a mushroom or thundercloud) in cloacella, but I think dissection is a safer bet.
Thank you for the replies. I have put it in the freezer awaiting dissection later in the year. I think it will have been brought into the house with logs destined for the fire. The present batch is mostly ash with a few birch and beech. Apparently some granella were recorded just down the road in Brailes a few years ago in similar circumstances. These were confirmed by dissection and were the first Warwickshire records for nearly 100 years.
ReplyDeleteHi Andy. This looks encouraging for granella. It appears to lack ochreous scales but we will have to wait for confirmation by dissection. MBGBI notes that some historical specimens have been found to be N. cloacella when dissected. There are 3 previous VC23 records, the most recent in 2019.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update. It will be in the next batch to be dissected.
Delete