Friday 11 August 2023

An Udea and some queries from Oxford

1. After the correspondence about Udea fulvalis, I had this on 9 August in my Oxford garden. I think it is Udea fulvalis but would welcome confirmation or other ideas.



2. This small tortricid I could not identify. Prominent white oval patch on the trailing edge should make it easy, plus the ginger 'epaulettes'. Any suggestions welcome.


3. This small micro closely resembles the rare Scythris limbella which 'should not' be in Oxford? But is it?



4. Another micro that stumped me (the Pyrausta gives a scale).
I would really welcome any opinions on these. Thank you. Andrew



4 comments:

  1. Hello Andrew,
    Not the clearest of images, but I'll do what I can:
    1. Udea fulvalis looks to be correct (and it is resident in Oxford).
    2. This is Eudemis profundana, a smart but highly variable tortrix species.
    3. What makes you think that Scythris limbata shouldn't be resident in Oxford? Your images are just about clear enough to leave no room for doubt and the larval food-plants are widespread. The moth might be uncommon (so this is a good record), but it has previously been recorded in both VC23 and VC24.
    4. This is one of the pine-feeding Clavigesta species but it would need a better image to be sure which one (purdeyi is the most likely).

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    Replies
    1. ...and I've just noticed the mistake I introduced above - Scythris limbella not limbata!

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  2. Well done on S. limbella, Andrew! A lovely moth that I would like to see. As Dave says it has been recorded in VC23 before, but only 3 times (in the database anyway), two historic records from East Oxford (c 120 years ago) and one more recently in Garsington. I think most Scythrids don't come to light very much at all, so it is probably a bit more widespread than these records suggest, but nevertheless an excellent find.

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  3. Thank you very much both. I saw the (possibly old) distribution of the Scythris and that it was 'rare', so anyway great to find it and sounds like an interesting record. I will have further looks at the other photos of the Clavigesta to see if I can get further though that was the clearest; not a group I feel at all familiar with.

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