There was a tiger in the moth trap yesterday. This was not a Garden Tiger moth (though there was one the other day) or even a Scarlet Tiger moth (which I have seen recently in the garden), but a
Tiger Cranefly Nephrotoma flavescens. This is one of the attractively marked
Nephrotoma craneflys, with the orange/yellow colouration and black markings on the abdomen and thorax. Craneflies are not exactly everyone's favourite insect, but perhaps this group of species can change some minds.
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| Tiger Cranefly Nephrotoma flavescens |
Back to the moths themselves, and this
Barred Straw Gandaritis pyraliata was the first of the season. This is a curious-looking moth with its strange posture, and is associated with bedstraws (
Galium sp).
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| Barred Straw Gandaritis pyraliata |
There were a couple of grey looking micromoths which got me very excited, if not anyone else.
Anarsia spartiella is a species that I have only recorded on a couple of occasions, and is generally a little recorded species. This may be a grey species, but I have a soft spot for the subtle makings and wonderful labial palps. The larva spin the shoots of gorse (
Ulex) and broom (
Cytisus).
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| Anarsia spartiella |
The other grey looking moth was another that looks beautiful in my eyes when you appreciate the subtle markings and the character of the species. This is a first record for the garden of
Neofaculta ericetella, which lays its eggs on heather (
Caluna).
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| Neofaculta ericetella |
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