My second trapping of the year on Wednesday's very mild night brought lots of visitors, compared to a grand total of nil when I first tried at the end of January. I have been puzzling over the one above and wonder - after a fair bit of Agnopterixing - if it is an Oak Nycteoline, which would be new for me? (I'm also trying to find out what 'Nycteoline' means!) All advice appreciated. Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon
PS I'm having trouble posting comments for some reason so this is just to say Thank You very much to Tim for a Rolls Royce explanation. I've always wanted to have a good read of Maitland Emmet and hope to some day. I had fondly thought of Nycteoline as something which might power a moth trap generator in the wilds, but like Martin H, I am entirely won over by your explanation. It's a very nice little moth. Many thanks again.
Hello Martin. That does look like an Oak Nycteoline to me (Nycteola reveyana).
ReplyDeleteAs regards the etymology, I can credit Maitland Emmet in his book "The Scientific Names of the British Lepidoptera" for informing me that the generic name "Nycteola" comes from the classical Greek "nux" for night (νύξ or more relevantly νύχτος in the genitive case which might be written "nyctos"). This is possibly joined with "eos" for dawn so that it adds up to a species that flies in the twilight of dawn.
I'm very hesitant to quibble with an expert, but if the origin is "nyctos" in the genitive and if we accept the theory that the second half comes from "eos" then to me this translates as "the dawn of the night" - i.e. the beginning of the night rather than its end. Can anyone else inform us whether Nycteolines tend to fly at the beginning of the night Iike most "nocturnal" species, or at its end?
He offers an alternative that "eola" is just an unorthodox diminutive ("the little night-flyer").
The specific epithet is in honour of a French entomologist.
Fascinating information Tim, thanks. As far as I'm aware nycteolines fly fairly soon after dark, like most moths, and I've never noticed them being a species that only turns up after I've gone to bed, so 'dawn of the night' seems plausible to me.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say to all of that guys is "Pardon?"
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