Friday 1 August 2008

Moths continue

I've had this micro before: Dipleurina lacustrata. I've only ever seen it attracted to light (and in fact had one fluttering over the surface of my monitor last night).


The micromoth Apotomis semifasciana is a Willow feeder:

Golden-rod Pug - Eupithecia virgaureata, which is known to feed on Ragwort and Goldenrod. In my location it has to be Ragwort:

I have to say I find Pugs very difficult. The best advice I can give is to read the text descriptions of the key differentiators: examination of markings and comparing then with pictures alone isn't going to get you very far. One of the key identifiers on this specimen was the tiny tuft of pale scales at the rear of the thorax!

The Spectacle - Abrostola tripartita - was very active, flying around the light (and frequently bashing into the glass with a loud thump).

The last three are all new to me.

Peter, if you're reading this, please contact me on cipeen at hotmail dot com. I'm keen to try that trap. (Famous last words!)

2 comments:

Gill said...

They're beautiful, aren't they? That Dipleurina lacustrata has quite a snout on it....

Are these taken at night with flash, or in the daylight the following morning? Looks like daylight.

Oh, and how big (or should that be small) are they?

Stuart said...

Careful...'snout' is a reserved word in terms of moths, kind of like 'carpet'....:)

These are all flash shots. (Care has been taken to choose an angle that reflects a lot of the light away, rather than burning colour out).

Those macros are roughly 20mm. along the wing and the micros about 10mm.