hastingsmothman
@hastingsmothman@mastodon.green  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

Today's #MothOfTheDay is a nationally scarce micro #moth. But one did visit the moth box Friday night. If you see spindle covered in massive webs, it is likely to be a common, indeterminate form of yponomeuta spindle ermine. This one, with grey suffusion, however, is not common at all:

SCARCE SPINDLE ERMINE
yponomeuta irrorella

#moths #mothsandbutterflies#MothsMatter #nature #wildlife #britishwildlife #lepidoptera #entomology #insect #garden #summer #conservation #biodiversity #alttext

Side on shot of 0.5cm moth on a wooden outdoors table. It faces right. It is long and tubular, holding its wing very tight to its abdomen It is white with a number of random black dots, particularly more so running in a line along the outside wing edge close to the table surface, but they are generally all over. Its distinctive markings from other yponomeuta species are areas of grey suffusion, a faint spot on its back, a larger smudge in the middle of the wing, and again greying to the fringed termen (back wing edge furthest away from its head). It has two coiled orange galeae (like a thin, long tongue) for feeding and long white antennae which it holds close to its body. It has a tiny head which pinhead eyes (right side only visible in this picture) and two palps (lips) which curve up from its mouth. It also has thin white legs.
Side on shot of 0.5cm moth on a wooden outdoors table. It faces right. It is long and tubular, holding its wing very tight to its abdomen It is white with a number of random black dots, particularly more so running in a line along the outside wing edge close to the table surface, but they are generally all over. Its distinctive markings from other yponomeuta species are areas of grey suffusion, a faint spot on its back, a larger smudge in the middle of the wing, and again greying to the fringed termen (back wing edge furthest away from its head). It has two coiled orange galeae (like a thin, long tongue) for feeding and long white antennae which it holds close to its body. It has a tiny head which pinhead eyes (right side only visible in this picture) and two palps (lips) which curve up from its mouth. It also has thin white legs.
Side on shot of 0.5cm moth on a wooden outdoors table. It faces right. It is long and tubular, holding its wing very tight to its abdomen It is white with a number of random black dots, particularly more so running in a line along the outside wing edge close to the table surface, but they are generally all over. Its distinctive markings from other yponomeuta species are areas of grey suffusion, a faint spot on its back, a larger smudge in the middle of the wing, and again greying to the fringed termen (back wing edge furthest away from its head). It has two coiled orange galeae (like a thin, long tongue) for feeding and long white antennae which it holds close to its body. It has a tiny head which pinhead eyes (right side only visible in this picture) and two palps (lips) which curve up from its mouth. It also has thin white legs.