We had a good trapping session
this week, with 17 species in one night (and that’s just the moths!). Numbers
are certainly starting to improve and the quakers and pugs are out in force. The
micros are starting to gather in number as well, which makes for some extra
pondering over their ID and adds to the challenge (and fun) of it all! We’ve
added a couple of new species to our site list this year – Caloptilia semifascia and Dotted Chestnut, which appears to be
expanding its range in this area. Some of the species from the trap this week
were:
 |
| Dotted Chestnut |
 |
| Eriocrania subpurpurella |
 |
| Phtheochroa rugosana |
 |
| Eriocrania unimaculella |
 |
| Oak Beauty |
We’re on a total of 36 species
now (31 moths + 5 butterflies).
Eriocaniidae can be hard to ID as adults (apart from subpurpurella). I'm not sure about the E. unimaculella, doesn't quite look right and think I would have hazarded a guess at E. sangii pending closer inspection.
ReplyDeleteIt was between E. unimaculella and E. sangii, but we went with E. unimaculella because of the tornal spot being silver (although there seems to be some debate over this character). We'll check for leaf mines next month to see if we can confirm it.
ReplyDeleteWould be good to know, and whilst both species mine on birch the larvae are quite different (though doesn't help that nearly all the Eriocraniidae feed on birch!). This is a good website in-case you haven't seen it: http://www.leafmines.co.uk/index.htm
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info!
ReplyDelete