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?
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| 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.
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
Hello Tim,
ReplyDeleteYour two Bryotropha species may both turn out to be terrella but getting them checked would be excellent! The other two are indeed both Blastobasis and I'd say that the one on the right is just another worn adustella like the one on the left. I agree with Eudemis profundana but the other tortrix is actually a Grapholita species and I suspect janthinana. G.lobarzewskii would be the other candidate but that one should be slightly larger and, having been flying since May, is likely to be over by now.
Thank you Dave. I had looked at B. terrella for photo (a) and thought that the pale zig-zag line in the outer third of the wing favoured senectella. I think I then forgot about terrella for (b), even though it looks a good fit. I'm not sure how I missed Grapholita janthinana, especially as I have already found it earlier and the habitat fits better (I have a hawthorn hedge right next to where I run the trap!). What I did get right was my judgement that these need the chop!
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