20 June 2013 - A bird dropping, or not?

Epiblema cynosbatella is a member of a group of micro-moths described as 'bird droppings.' This is for their muddled white, blue, tan, brown, and black colors. These micro-moths are generally difficult to tell apart. We were bombarded by a mass of them yesterday - the others will appear in future postings. The trap was a flurry of Brimstone Moths, Green Carpets, Silver-ground Carpets, and bird-dropping micros for a good hour or two while I tried to sort through the ones I knew in order to release them and let them hide away in the garden. A huddle of Beautiful Golden Ys were hiding closer to the bottom of the trap. They were probably trying their best to sleep, though a few became irritated with all the racket and started buzzing about as well, which didn't really help the situation.

Epiblema cynosbatella

Epiblema cynosbatella is the most recognizable of the bird-droppings, as it has very distinctive yellow labial palps, which other bird dropping micro-moths do not have. Epiblema in Greek means 'a covering,' such as a cloak over the shoulders or a tapestry on a wall. Kunosbatos 'the dog-rose' is the larval foodplant of the micro-moth. The -ella on the end of the name relates Epiblema cynosbatella to the tineids, small yellowish moths who's larvae eat wool or fur, because of how its wings are folded at rest. Epiblema cynosbatella does not, however, consume wool or fur. Your wardrobe is safe! We sighted this species in May 2011, but for some slip in the records, it was never officially recorded.* Counting this, our species list is now at 264.**

*Upon cross-referencing I found that Helen Levins referred to this moth as Notocelia cynosbatella. This is the old name for the moth and after reclassification its new name is Epiblema cynosbatella. The moth count has been adjusted to reflect this discovery.

**The moth count remains at 263. Sorry for the confusion!

- Post by Jane Wu

28 May 2018 - Regulars to the Gardens

White Ermine (Spilsoma lubricipeda)

The days are hot - the nights are not.  Last night registered only 10 degrees in the gardens but there was hope that there might be a good catch to give some idea of the moth population this May.  The White Ermine is one of the easier moths to identify and is very common.  The scientific name 'lubricipeda' means 'swift-footed' and this may refer to the speed the caterpillar covers the ground although Linneaus does not say specifically that this is the case; 'spilsoma' means 'spots on the body' (abdomen).  In Humphreys and Westwood's British Moths and their Transformations the White Ermine is not mentioned.  The scientific name in the index leads us to the Spotted Buff Ermine which is a little confusing... 

Spotted Buff Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda)

Here (above) is that illustration of the Spotted Buff Ermine showing that the marking is consistent with what we now identify as the Buff Ermine (Spilosoma lutea).  The bristly marks on the edge of the right side of the drawing and the tufts beneath give a glimpse of the caterpillars of this moth - very hairy.  The sort that cuckoos like - and one has been heard this year in Coxwold.

Another moth that is always a shock to the senses is the Elephant Hawkmoth (Deilephia elpenor). The adult is a regular visitor to the gardens and we will look out for the caterpillar later in the year.  The binomial refers to 'evening love' (deilephila) and Elpenor - one of Odysseus' companions who was turned into a pig by Circe.

Elephant Hawk Moth (Deilephila elpenor)

The illustration (below) captures the shape but is a little wayward with the colouring of ths moth.  Overall it is a mixture of green and pink that creates such a vivid showing and not this purplish tint.

Elephant Hawk Moth (Deilephila elpenor)

I was determined to identify the 'bird dropping' tortrix (photograph below) but even now I am not entirely certain.  The diagnostic details are the black spots on the forewings - not the grey-coloured splashes but the smaller ones, on the edge of the wing.  I have compared it with previous certified examples (by Dave Chesmore and Charlie Fletcher) that our UPenn students diligently put forward as examples of this species and it seems to match.
The following week Charlie kindly corrected me....It is Epiblema cynosbatella.  There is a tiny glimpse of the yellow palps.  

Epiblema cynosbatella

And just one more to include in this post - the Gold Spot.  A shining beauty of a moth that has a variant (Lempke's Gold Spot [Plusia putnami gracilis]) but the difference is slight.  Except of course to Barend jan Lempke who was a lepidopterist in the Netherlands...

Gold Spot (Plusia festucae)

The other species in the trap were five Poplar Hawkmoths, May Highflyer, Sandy Carpet, Grey Pug, Mottled Pug, Clouded Bordered Brindle, Silver Y, Golden Y and two cockchafers.

Our new intern from University of Pennsylvania arrives soon so more traps will be set, more blogs will be written and (possibly) a few more species will be added to the list of 427 at Shandy Hall.

8 July 2013 - Prickly Plant Eater.

We are now the proud caretakers of three broods of newly hatched caterpillars! They are extremely small and very hard to see unless they are huddled together in a group, though they are sure to get bigger as they've taken to some clover now. I will be sure to post pictures once they are large enough to see properly on a camera shot.

Bramble Shoot Moth (Epiblema uddmanniana)

The Bramble Shoot Moth (Epiblema uddmanniana) is a pretty distinctive micro-moth with its tan background and chocolate colored blotch on its forewing. It's is related to the Epiblema cynosbatella. If you compare the two, you can see the similar body shape and manner by which they hold their antennae. Epiblema 'a covering, used either of a cloak thrown over the shoulders or a tapestry draped on walls' I think seems to describe how the moths of the genus hold their wings - as if they were a cloak draped over the body. The Bramble Shoot Moth gets its species name from Uddmann, a Finnish entomologist who studied and wrote a book about insects. True to its common name, the Bramble Shoot Moth feeds on bramble, raspberry, and loganberry. We should have some bramble in the garden, though I'm not sure where it is exactly, which might explain why we've only found one of these moths so far. That makes 275 moth species here at Shandy Hall.

Last update of the day - Patrick has come up with a solution to catching moths in bad weather! It's been wonderfully sunny these past couple of days, though last week was dreadfully rainy. Moths have a  surprisingly great ability to avoid being affected by rain drops as they fly, though once they have landed and are still, they are prone to drowning and losing their scales in the rain. Our solution? A tent! At night we keep the two doors to the tent open so the moths can fly in and find shelter from the rain, and in the morning we zip them up so they stay inside until we can count them and let them go. It's been working quite well. Now we'll be able to do our moth trapping regardless of the weather!

- Post by Jane Wu

3 June 2011 - Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth

Epiblema cynosbatella crept in, nearly unnoticed, on 20 May (photo on side panel) and was identified by Dave Chesmore as Shandy Hall’s newest species.  163 in total.

Last night was the warmest for a while and the trap was out by 9pm which might explain why the dusk-flying Common Swift was seen this morning.  Hepialus lupulinus was the name Linnaeus gave this moth: hepialus – a fever: from its fitful flight; and lupulinus: the hop plant which he thought (wrongly) was a food source for the larva. 

The most striking moths this morning were: Little Emerald, Green Silver-lines and Peppered Moth.  The Little Emerald (Jodis lactearia) could serve as a subject for a sermon by Sterne.  The name derives from: iodes – rust-like; from the degeneration of the wing colour with age.  The moth's beautifully pale green wings quickly fade to white and bring to mind Matthew 6:19 ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt’. Poor old moths getting the blame as usual.  The lactearia part of the binomial refers to the milky white that the wings become as the moth ages.  Green Silver-lines (Pseudoips prasinana) – ‘leek-green, false vine-eating bug’ is a rough translation.  The colour is startling and this example is near perfect. 

The Flame (Axylia putris: rotten, cut wood) arrived as well [six of them in total] and sprawled over an egg-box at the bottom of the trap was a Peppered moth (Biston betularia: birch loving, bacchus worshipper).  This moth is supposed to vary its colouring depending on atmospheric pollution – and thereby hangs a lengthy digression which can be followed up at your leisure.

14 June 2016 - Knot Grass

Knot Grass (Acronicta rumicis)

With the epic influx of Diamond Backs making BBC News, moths are now en vogue – bad news for cabbages, surprize news for moth enthusiasts. 

A trap put out on 13 June had plenty of lodgers, many of which were new to me: Silver Y, Fan-foot, Garden Pebble, Argyresthia trifasciata, Bright-line Brown Eye, Ingrailed Clay, Middle-barred Minor, Epiblema cynosbatella, Celypha lacunana, Scorched Wing, Shoulder-striped Wainscot, Small Angle Shades, and Water Carpet - but also the unrecorded Knot Grass. 

Knot Grass (illustration)

After staring at the ‘eyes’ on the forewing of this individual for a good while, I confirmed with Dr. Chesmore that my identification was correct - welcome to the Knot Grass (Acronicta rumicis). The first ever to be seen at Shandy Hall, it brings our species count to 373! This moth has a distinct chalky white mark near its trailing corner and a shaky white cross-line on the outer edge. ‘Akronux’ means ‘nightfall’ in Greek, probably a skew on Noctuidae, the name of its family, since this moth actually flies at night and not at dusk.

A illustration from 1843 (above) shows the Knot Grass next to a dewberry plant which belongs to the genus Rubus, after which the moth is named (rumicis). Another foodplant is the bramble and the moth used to be referred to as ‘bramble moth’, though this seems no longer to be in use. This moth has a stunning larval form with bright orange spiracles.

(Argyresthia trifasciata)

Like a shiny candy wrap, Argyresthia trifasciata is distinguished by the golden luster and three (tri-) stripes (fascia) on its wings. The only other time it has been recorded here was in 2013, since it is very local and quite scarce. I was very keen on getting all the micros identified (my co-worker remarked that I was turning into ‘the moth lady’), but was amazed at how many of them required dissection, which is where we draw the line.  Fortunately this moth is one that can be identified by observation only.

Post : Tung Chau (UPenn)

1 July 2013 - Flocks of Bird Droppings.

Today marks my half-way point at Shandy Hall! I will be here for just another month, though there are plenty more moths up ahead for the blog so stay tuned!

The Plum Tortrix (Hedya pruniana) is another of the bird-dropping micro-moths. We had a 'flock' of them mixed in with some Epiblema cynosbatella and a few Celypha lacunana, all of which are bird-dropping micro-moths. You can probably imagine the panic I had trying to identify and count them all as they were fluttering around and bumping into the equally numerous Green, Sandy, and Silver-ground Carpets in the trap. I did manage a few good photographs of four after the mayhem subsided. As you may see, Plum Tortrixes can be quite variable. Their general color pattern is however the same throughout, which makes them at least distinctive enough to more-or-less identify by sight. Sometimes I sit and stare at a bird-dropping micro thinking it might be something new, when in fact it is another Plum Tortrix just trying to fool me.

Plum Tortrix (Hedya pruniana)

Hedus 'sweet, pleasing' is meant to describe the coloration of the genus Hedya, which are all mixtures of blue, brown, black, white, and grey. Until Dr. Chesmore told me that micro-moths of this kind were commonly compared to bird-droppings I could agree. The name Plum Tortrix and pruniana are both derivatives of the of the micro-moth's foodplants, plum and prunus spinosa 'blackthorn.' The Plum Tortrix is 270 on the species count.

- Post by Jane Wu

26 June 2016 - New 'Bird Dropping' Moth

Epiblema trimaculana

Though to me the scenery may not change much from day to day, the moth world is seeing a total revamp. The first of the summer for the Barred-fruit Tree Moth, Common Footman, Common Wave, Coxcomb Prominent, Large Yellow-underwing, Phlyctaenia perlucidalis, Straw Dot, and Uncertain have all made an appearance, while some previously abundant species – Small Square-spot, Diamond Back – have diminished in number. A total of 38 species were recorded, including one new: Epiblema trimaculana, identification confirmed by Charlie Fletcher.

E. trimaculana (from above)

This is the second Epiblema species I have seen, the other one being E. cynosbatella. Comepared to the latter, E. trimaculana has a narrower forewing, lacks the yellow palps, and, as suggested by its name, shows three (tri-) spots (macula) in the ocellar region of the forewing. Below is our moth illustrated under the name Spilonota trimaculana, showing the slipperiness of the naming system and the degree of similarities between the so-called ‘bird dropping’ moths. From now on, I shall get a nervous twitch in the stomach whenever I see a member of this family – not from the appetizing nickname but the difficulty of identification. It brings our species count to 377.

E. trimaculana (illustration)

The Common Footman (Eilema lurideola) is a rather Lego-looking piece of a gem. Wearing a conspicuous grey and yellow, this moth has a fashion sense that informs both its common and scientific name. I learn that it got the former from the long livery of the footman, which is echoed in the involuted forewings at rest. The same is implied by its scientific name, where ‘eilēma’ means ‘a veil’ and luridus pale yellow (from the costal streaks).

Common Footman (Eilema lurideola)

Post : Tung Chau (UPenn)