Tag Archives: 5-spot Burnet

183/366 It’s a Burnet’s life

01 Wednesday Jul 2020

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My new favourite field has a healthy population of Burnet moths, some of which are 6-spot Burnets (Zygaena filipendulae) and the others could either be 5-spot Burnets (Zygaena trifolii) or Narrow-bordered 5-spot Burnets (Zygaena lonicerae) – it’s almost impossible to tell these latter two species apart. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been lucky enough to see almost every part of their life cycle – only the eggs have eluded me.

200701 1 5spot and 6spot

A 5-spot above, a 6-spot below

200701 2 6spot burnets

6-spot Burnets mating

Today I spotted this larva, looking very close to pupating, and, nearby, a very fresh-looking cocoon.

200701 5 6spot burnet

A freshly emerged 6-spot Burnet moth

200701 6 5spot burnet

A pristine 5-spot Burnet moth

200701 7 5spot burnet dead n ants

Death is always sad to see but, in this case, the moth will support the life cycle of other creatures.

 

Wild word: cocoon

29 Wednesday Aug 2018

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Cocoon: Noun; A silky case spun by the larvae of many insects for protection as pupae (Oxford Dictionary).
The cocoons in my photos are those of Burnet moths, both 5-spot (below left) and 6-spot (below right): you can’t tell the difference in the cocoons from the outside – I just know which moths were present in the locations where I took my photos.

After hatching from their eggs, the caterpillars/larvae of both moths feed on plants from the pea family; the 6-spot burnet is particularly partial to Common bird’s-foot trefoil, which is why I see a lot of these moths at Cosmeston.

When they’re ready to pupate, the caterpillars find themselves a suitable location, often high up on a sturdy grass stem (though I have seen them on other plants), and spin an oval-shaped cocoon. The cocoons pictured above are still occupied by caterpillars in the throes of metamorphosing into moths, a process which takes about two weeks.

These are the empty cocoons that remain once the adult moths have emerged (with the remains of the larvae’s pupae cases poking out the tops). The cocoons are quite sturdy: their yellowish-white papery structures often seem to last for a month or more after the adults have departed or even until the grasses themselves collapse with the coming of the wild winds and chilly days of autumn.

The 5-spot Burnets

09 Saturday Jul 2016

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I thought after yesterday’s post you might like to see the moth that little Henderson Cuthbert the caterpillar will, hopefully, develop into. As you can see, the 5-spot Burnet moth (Zygaena trifolii) is a real beauty.

160710 5-spot burnet (1)

Its preferred habitats are marshlands and boggy heaths, so I’m not entirely sure how they came to live in Cathays Cemetery, though the shade provided by the many tall, mature trees does tend to keep the uncut grass of the conservation areas quite damp so perhaps that serves them just as well. There is also plenty of Common bird’s foot trefoil (the yellow flower shown in one of my photos), which is their favourite food plant.

The 5-spots are certainly plentiful at the moment – when I wander around the cemetery paths, it’s not unusual to see half a dozen at a time. I hope my little friend H. C. will soon join his relations, buzzing about the graves like little pink-winged bumblebees.

160710 5-spot Burnet (3)

When is a 5-spot not?

08 Friday Jul 2016

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Meet Henderson Cuthert. He’s a 5-spot Burnet moth caterpillar and, though he will never know it, he has been a brilliant help to me in determining whether all the Burnet moths I keep seeing at my local cemetery are 5-spot Burnets or Narrow-bordered 5-spot Burnets. The two moths are almost impossible to tell apart but the length of the hairs on their caterpillars is a determining factor – short for 5-spot, long for Narrow-bordered 5-spot. And it’s likely that there is a colony of just one species at the cemetery rather than both.

160709 5-spot Burnet caterpillar (1)

You may well wonder why my little friend is called Henderson Cuthbert (and you may well think me more than a little crazy when I explain). The events were as follows:
Day 1: Caterpillar spotted in front of grave of a husband and wife named Henderson. Photos taken, name filed in memory so I could remember where he was located.
Day 2: I had a sneaky feeling he was getting ready to pupate so returned to see what was happening … and he was, though he had only spun the thinnest of coverings at that stage. The weather was lousy and he looked like getting hammered by a nearby bush so I relocated his piece of grass to the grave opposite. The surname on that headstone was Cuthbert (thus Henderson Cuthbert).

But wait, there’s more …
Day 3: Initially, I thought the pupa had to be examined to determine species, so I returned again and carefully brought Henderson Cuthbert home with me, though I was rather devastated that he might have to sacrifice his life in the name of biological recording.
Day 4: I discovered my mistake, sent photos rather than pupa for identification, and little H.C. gets to live to be a moth. Delight!
Day 5: That’s tomorrow. I will take H.C. back to the cemetery so he can complete his life cycle in peace.

Many thanks to County Recorder Dave Slade for help in identifying Henderson Cuthbert.