A small puzzle

 This has completely defied identification. Any help appreciated. F/w 7mm.

Dave Ferguson, Beaconsfield

More Yponomeuta queries

Seeing the previous post on Yponomeuta, I then had several in the trap yesterday morning.

I did not keep them. Any advice on identification or how to record them appreciated. In the past I have used Y sp. 

Thanks

Barnaby Briggs, Iver

 

Another busy night

Thursday night (27th July) was dry and warm: I recorded a minimum temperature of 16 °C in the garden.  Although the moon was more than half full, the sky clouded over shortly after sunset.  As a result, it was a busy night at my two traps.

I recorded 442 moths of 97 species; the second-highest species count I have achieved here.  Provisionally, ten of these species were new for the garden list (I started six years ago).  Jersey Tiger has been spreading for several years, so its first appearance in my garden on 27th was definitely due: I have caught it many times in France, sometimes countable in dozens.  A common species whose first appearance was overdue is Shaded Broad-bar: it seems to be having a good year and I have seen several elsewhere this year, by night and by day.

Tree-lichen Beauty is another spreading species and I did record it here three times in 2022; I caught four on Thursday night which is more than I have caught before here (again, it is much more common where I trap in France).  Seventeen other species had their busiest night ever in the garden: some examples include Agapeta hamana (10 individuals), Endotricha flammealis (21), Cydalima perspectalis (Box-tree Moth: 15 individuals, despite my neighbour's best efforts to protect her bushes), Least Carpet (13) and Smoky Wainscot (also 13).  Common Rustic/Lesser Common Rustic are making up for their surprising near-absence in previous years: the cumulative total prior to this year was 12 individuals on 10 nights in 6 years.  After getting six in a single night on 21st July, no fewer than 21 of them appeared on 27th.

As is usual at this time of year, some of the micros gave me trouble.  I am relatively confident that the moth labelled (a) below is Bryotropha senectella, but is (b) a less-well marked member of the same species?  The blackish dots appear to have the same pattern, but the wing shape seems a little different.  I believe that (c) is Blastobasis adustella; is (d) also?

Newton Longville, 27th July

Most of the moths above are now residing in the freezer.  There are two others that will also go for dissection.  [Blogger swapped the images below, so I have decided to edit this text rather than struggle with the photo layout].  I initially wondered if the moth on the right below was Eudemis porphyrana, which would have been a lovely record, but the orangey colour of its thorax and crest makes me believe it is really the much less exciting E. profundana (see also Steve Trigg's recent post).  On the other hand, I think the moth on the left has a reasonable chance of being Dichrorampha consortana: one factor in its favour is its forewing length of just 4½ mm.  There are three alternatives and the loss/wear of cilia is unhelpful, but the most likely is perhaps a particularly small D. plumbana.

Dichrorampha sp.
Newton Longville, 27th July

Eudemis sp.
Newton Longville, 27th July

Incidentally, after examining and photographing the Eudemis sp. on Friday, I accidentally left it out in the room overnight instead of putting it in the freezer.  On Saturday, I was surprised to find that its thorax had exploded in a manner reminiscent of a scene in Alien: I couldn't ascertain if the cause was fungal or parasitism.

Tim Arnold

Newton Longville, Bucks

Gelechia senticetella-query

 Is this Gelechia senticetella? 

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

Tortrix query

I had this colourful small tortix come to the garden trap on Friday night, but I am struggling to put a name to it. Any help much appreciated.

Steve Trigg, Cookham

Elachista and Yponomeuta queries and an update

1. Elachista utonella?

To me this looks to be either Elachista utonella or E. albidella, though I would say it is not pale enough for the latter. However, both species are said to favour bogs or acid heathlands, of which there are none anywhere near here.. 

2. Yponomeuta rorella
Is this species identifiable from an image, or is it impossible to ID unless bred from its food plant like the other three Yponomeutas? It is a species I have not come across before, but in recent days I have had two that visually seem good for the species, with a grey panel in the centre of the wing, and white on the dorsum and along the costa.

 

3. I have now had a third probable Caryocolum fraternella. One I have retained for dissection, and the second I released, but a detailed comparison of the images of the latest and the released specimen, show that they are different individuals.

Oncocera semirubella?

When I was walking my butterfly transect at Dancersend Extension on 25 July I spotted this moth on a Field Scabious flower that, at a distance, I initially thought must be a rather unusually marked footman. Once close, I realised it was something else and new to me. I managed to get a couple of photos which I've only just got around to looking at. It looks close to

Oncocera semirubella but with rather more dark markings than the illustrations I have looked at.

Depressaria sp?

 Possibly Depressaria daucella? Or less likely D. douglasella? Or something else entirely? Despite looking settled, it suddenly took flight whilst I was photographing it, so unfortunately no specimen for further checking.

Two worn moths

 Hi Dave, I wondered if one of these was a washed out Heart & Dart or if either are familiar in this guise? Both from this July in my Penn garden. Thanks Alan

     

Another Caryocolum?

 Having gone through all the possibilites, I think this must be Caryocolum fraternella? Two turned up a couple of nights ago. 

And this I think is a rather worn Pyrausta despicata, but not a moth I've seen before.

Thanks, Phil.

Scoparia ambigualis

Would I be over ambitious, or just wrong, to ID this moth as Scoparia ambigualis?

Alan Diver

Tackley Heath

 

Wainscot

I'm not confident in ID between common and smoky.

Grateful for help and identifying feature(s).

Alan D

Tackley Heath

 

Any ideas?

 Hi there,

I don't even hazard a guess at this - can anyone help, please? They are all of the same specimen. Sorry the photos aren't better! Thanks, David

Tricky IDs

I haven't run the traps at home very often recently.  I have done a small amount of away trapping and otherwise my frequency of mothing has been reduced by a combination of other activities and the poor weather.  I was due to participate in a moth-trapping event last Saturday night, but it was cancelled on Friday afternoon due to the correctly-forecast rain, so I took the opportunity of a forecast overnight dry spell on Friday night to run the traps in the garden.

The night felt quite "slow", but it turned out better than expected and I was pleasantly surprised to reach a provisional total (subject to some confirmations) of 79 species, of which 38 macros and a particularly pleasing 41 micros.  Amongst these, I have a few queries:

The first seems (from wing shape and general pattern) like a particularly obscure Rhopobota naevana. The second fell victim to my clumsiness and might be to hard to ID.  I tentatively wrote down Tineola bisselliella based on wing colour, but in that case it is missing all of the scales on its head and it could be another species.

Rhopobota naevana?
Newton Longville, 21 July

Tineid
Newton Longville, 21 July

After photography, the pot containing the third micro was mistakenly put into the "release" pile instead of into the much smaller "dissection" pile.  I think it is Agonopterix heracliana: it had no pinkish colour underneath, but that might not be good enough to be accepted. Forewing 9mm.  The final moth with tentative ID is a tired-looking macro which I think it is probably a Dingy Shears.

Agonopterix heracliana?
Newton Longville, 21 July

Dingy Shears?
Newton Longville, 21 July

A total of six Common Rustic/Lesser Common Rustic moths appeared.  That might not be of any remark for most other people, but it is as many as I get here in a whole year (the last 4 years I have had annual totals of 6, 0, 3 and 2).

In terms of "bycatch", I found the rather misleadingly-named burying beetle Necrodes littoralis in one of the moth traps: I get one or two individuals most years and finding it very far from the coast is far from unusual.  I did get a significantly more unusual burying beetle when I ran a trap in Winslow on 7th July for a public mothing demonstration the next morning.  An orange-banded species arrived and after running it through the key on the Silphidae Recording Scheme site, it must be Nicrophorus interruptus, which has a fairly thin distribution in southern Britain: there seem to be only ten records for VC24.

Nicrophorus interruptus
Winslow, 7th July

Tim Arnold

Newton Longville

2 Micros

Cnephasia sp.?

Grateful for help with these 2 micros

Alan Diver

Tackley Heath

 

Phtheochroa inopiana?

 I think I have Phtheochroa inopiana from last night. I had to take the picture inside the trap so the phot isn't that brilliant. 

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford.

Caryocolum blandella

I think this is Caryocolum blandella, trapped in private woodland in north Bucks last night. The distribution map on the Gelechiid Recording Society site has a large blank area in the middle of OS square SP, so it's presumably fairly scarce in Bucks? 

Caryocolum blandella distribution in OS grid square SP

 

A couple of questions

 These two moths were trapped in a small trap in the reed bed on Otmoor last night.

I think the first may be Brachmia blandella? The second looks like an Orange Footman from the wing shape, but it seems rather late for that?

                                                

Two micros that I am struggling with

 Two I caught two nights ago and have me stumped. Any thoughts most welcome. Andrew

1. 10-11 mm, presumably Tortricidae.

2. Smaller, about 8 mm

Hoary Footman

 

Top: flying Hoary Footman.

Bottom: Hoary Footman on right.

David Ferguson, Beaconsfield