Two new dissection confirmations

I gave some moths for dissection to Graeme back on the 08th of July to look at.

One was an unusual asymmetrical Pug which looked very odd indeed and we both couldn't place  it at the time.

The other was a Nemapogon species and looked a little paler than the Nemapogon cloacella that I regularly get in the garden.

Both specimens were part of a catch of moths made on the 06th of July.

The Pug turns out to be my latest ever Oak-tree Pug, with the previous latest a whole month earlier on 06/06/13!
The books do state that they can straggle on until late July in some years but i've never experienced that myself.

The Nemapogon is Nemapogon ruricolella and a pleasing addition to the garden list and being only the 3rd species of Nemapogon for the garden joining cloacella (of course) and clematella (oddly).

Here are the pictures, Nemapogon ruricolella wasn't a new moth for me as on the 19th of June I recorded one at Home Wood in Bedfordshire (pic attached for a comparison to my garden specimen).

Nemapogon ruricolella - 06/07/17 - Stevenage

 

Nemapogon ruricolella - 19/06/17 - Home Woood

Latest ever Oak-tree Pug

A change in weather yields a new moth

Wednesday (and as per a previous post) I was scheduled to go out but in brief my wife wasn't very well and the weather was a little iffy after a huge thunderstorm on Tuesday night with some localised downpours.

Conditions seemed better on Wednesday but the expected temperature of 28 degrees never materialised and we topped out at 22 degrees here, which is still relatively respectful.

The trap was set-up with the rain cover firmly on expecting more rain, which did come at some point in the night.

By the morning, the catch was quite pleasing with a new Tortrix moth for me and always a sweetner adding it to the garden list, Adoxophyes orana the Summer Fruit Tortrix and making it the 1st County record for Hertfordshire!

Other nice moths included a year first Tree-lichen Beauty, a moth that is increasing its range across the Country and the last 3 years it has been recorded from my garden.

Chinese Character was also very welcome and I have had just one record in 2013 and 2015 so far, so as you can see it is a bi-yearly singleton species and very consistent. 

Mompha propinquella returned after a 4 year absence, a pretty unusual little moth that is very photogenic.

Also I’m pretty sure I have both Acleris laterana and comariana, the latter a rare moth in Herts having caught the second County record many years ago on the farm, laterana would be a year first and comariana would be a garden first. Both will need dissecting to be 100% the photos look convincing. 

Epiblema costipunctana was back after its debut year last year, a thistle feeder and a most welcome second garden record.

And finally Zelleria hepariella was a new species of Micro Moth for the garden having recently recorded one at Scales Part in North-east Herts, not a common moth for me I must add. 

As I finish typing, Saturday has been a complete wash-out and last night's catch was completely sodden...more on that soon.

Catch Report - 19/07/17 - Back Garden - Stevenage - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap

 

Macro Moths

1x Chinese Character [NFY]

1x Tree-lichen Beauty [NFY]

1x Bright-line Brown-eye

3x Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

1x Buff Footman

2x Common Footman

11x Common Rustic

1x Common Wainscot

1x Dark Arches

1x Dingy Footman

2x Dot Moth

2x Dun-bar 

2x Elephant Hawk-moth

1x Grey Dagger

1x Haworth's Pug

1x Heart & Dart

1x July Highflyer

2x Least Carpet

2x Maple Pug

1x Mottled Beauty

1x Mottled Rustic

2x Nut-tree Tussock

1x Poplar Hawk-moth

1x Purple Thorn 

1x Red Twin-spot Carpet

14x Riband Wave

1x Rustic 

3x Scarce Footman

1x Scalloped Oak

2x Silver-Y

1x Smoky Wainscot

1x V-Pug

6x Uncertain

1x Yellow-tail

Micro Moths

1x Adoxophyes orana [NEW!]

1x Zelleria hepariella [NFG]

2x Acleris laterana/comariana [NFY] 

1x Agriphila tristella [NFY]

1x Eucosma conterminana [NFY]

1x Eucosma hohenwartiana [NFY] 

1x Mompha propinquella [NFY]

4x Pammene regiana

1x Prays fraxinella

1x Acleris forsskaleana  

1x Acrobasis advenella

2x Acrobasis suavella

10x Agriphila straminella

11x Blastobasis adustella

2x Chrysoteuchia culmella

1x Coleophora sp

2x Cameraria ohridella

1x Cnephasia sp

3x Cydia spledana 

7x Endotricha flammealis

18x Eudonia lacustrata

3x Eudonia mercurella

1x Euzophera pinguis

2x Oegoconia sp

1x Pammene aurita

2x Pandemis heparana

9x Pleuroptya ruralis 

2x Plutella xylostella

6x Spilonota ocellana

9x Yponomeuta evonymella

 

Adoxophyes orana

Agriphila tristella

Chinese Character

Epiblema costipunctana

Eucosma conterminana

Acleris laterana & comariana?

Mompha propinquella

Tree-lichen Beauty

Zelleria hepariella

 

Slowing down a little

After a record-breaking start to the summer for moths in our County, things have slowed down somewhat for the garden trap, still some interest about and it's usually the time to look out for quality as numbers get lower making it easier to spot moths that you otherwise may have missed. 

Monday night was a bit cooler but still warm enough for some activity.

Eucosma cana, despite being a common moth in the county and extremely common on field trips, it seems to be quite scarce in my garden and the one example on Monday night was the first since 2014.

Previous records are one example in 2014 and 8 in 2013.

Another Eucosma, Eucosma obumbratana turned up as a year first as well and certainly more regular being recorded in the last 4 years but with just 1 or 2 records per year.

Catch Report - 17/07/17 - Back Garden - Stevenage - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap

 

Macro Moths

1x Dusky Thorn [NFY]

1x Single-dotted Wave [NFY]

1x Vapourer Moth [NFY]

2x Bright-line Brown-eye

2x Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

1x Buff Arches 

1x Buff Footman

1x Clay

1x Cloaked Minor

3x Common Footman

9x Common Rustic

3x Dark Arches

1x Dingy Footman

1x Dot Moth

1x Double Square-spot

4x Dun-bar

1x Flame Shoulder

1x Garden Carpet 

1x Grey Dagger

1x Haworth's Pug

2x Heart & Dart

1x July Highflyer

2x Least Carpet

1x Mottled Beauty

1x Mottled Rustic

2x Nut-tree Tussock

1x Poplar Hawk-moth

1x Purple Thorn 

1x Red Twin-spot Carpet

10x Riband Wave

1x Rustic 

1x Scarce Footman

1x Silver-Y

1x Smoky Wainscot

1x V-Pug

3x Uncertain

2x Yellow-tail

Micro Moths

1x Argyrotaenia ljungiana [NFY[

1x Aspilapteryx tringipennella [NFY] 

1x Eucosma cana [NFY]

1x Eucosma obumbratana [NFY]

2x Pammene aurita [NFY]

1x Acleris forsskaleana  

1x Acrobasis advenella

3x Acrobasis suavella

1x Agonopterix heracliana

9x Agriphila straminella

1x Anania coronata

1x Anania hortulata 

14x Blastobasis adustella

1x Bryotropha affinis 

1x Bryotropha terrella

4x Chrysoteuchia culmella

3x Coleophora sp

8x Cameraria ohridella

2x Cnephasia sp

2x Cydia spledana 

1x Ditula angustiorana

3x Endotricha flammealis

6x Eudonia lacustrata

7x Eudonia mercurella

2x Euzophera pinguis

1x Oegoconia sp

1x Pandemis heparana

5x Pleuroptya ruralis 

1x Plutella xylostella

2x Pyrausta aurata

8x Spilonota ocellana

4x Yponomeuta evonymella

Aspilapteryx tringipennella

 

Dusky Thorn

Vapourer Moth

 

Argyrotaenia ljungiana

Eucosma cana

Eucosma obumbratana

Euzophera pinguis

Maple Pug