20 May 2011 - Flame Shoulder

Cleaning the moth trap (dead midges and mosquitoes accumulate at the bottom of the trap and form a sort of crisp soup) and then putting it out in the dark last night meant I forgot to put the egg-boxes back in.  As a result, this morning’s collection were all tucked beneath the rim that supports the plastic inspection cover and extremely difficult to photograph.  It was a demonstration of how they are attracted and repulsed by the light.
I hoped there might be a female Muslin moth but all the feathery white speckled ones were White Ermines Spilosoma lubricipeda (spilos – a spot; soma – the body; lubricipeda – swift footed).  There was one that I have seen before but took a while to find in the Field Guide. It turned out to be a Flame Shoulder (Ochropleura plecta)  Pale (okhros) rib (pleura); plecta – a twisted rope.  Very neat and orderly moth as you can see from the photograph.