Tag Archives: British moths

Leafmines: Coleophora peribenanderi

18 Monday Oct 2021

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Searching for leafmines on thistles is not for the faint-hearted, writes she with multi-punctured fingers. But it has been worth every drop of blood to find these mines (and I must be a masochist, as, having found them in one place, I then went determinedly searching in other locations – two successes so far, which I’m rather pleased about as there are very few records in south Wales).

211018 Coleophora peribenanderi (1)

The larvae of the moth Coleophora peribenanderi, also known as the Pale Thistle case-bearer (you can see the adult on UK Moths here), builds itself a tube-like case to live in and ventures out of said case to munch happily on the leaves of whichever species of thistle its mother laid her eggs on (in the three I’ve found so far, Creeping thistle). The marks this feeding makes on the plant’s leaves are quite distinctive but, to clinch the identification, you need to look under the leaf and find the case.

211018 Coleophora peribenanderi (2)

Interestingly, the larva feeds up for a couple of months, from July to September, then suspends its development (the scientific word is diapause, a new one for me) through the winter until either feeding up a bit more in April or passing straight to pupation in May. Fascinating stuff!

In Sycamore seeds

12 Tuesday Oct 2021

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This is the sequel to yesterday’s post …

30 September: While I was searching for the larval mines of the moth Ectoedemia decentella on the few Sycamore seeds I could reach, I found one seed with a hole in it. Thinking it might be relevant, I brought it home and later posted a photo and query on Twitter. Butterfly Conservation senior moth ecologist George replied that this is ‘the exit hole made by a tortrix [moth] larva – likely Pammene aurita, though Pammene regiana also feeds on Sycamore seeds’. Then followed a discussion, prompted by George, between he and 3 other moth-ers about whether Pammene regiana makes an exit hole like this. No one knew for sure.

211012 pammene larval mine (1)

1 October: The next morning, when I picked up the little group of three joined seeds, I noticed what looked like frass sitting below. I mentioned this on Twitter and was advised to put the seeds on tissue in a jar in case the larva was still inside.

211012 pammene larval mine (2)

2 October: My tweet: ‘Exciting news: we have a larva! Not from the original hole. I put that seed, with 2 attached, in a jar, and a larva has emerged from one of the other seeds. It’s currently doing a circuit of the tissue – hoping it will pupate.’ It wasn’t until later, when I was looking at the photos I had taken, that I realised the photo above shows where that larva had begun to eat its way out of the seed (indicated by the yellow arrow).

211012 pammene larval mine (3)211012 pammene larval mine (4)

3 October: The larva pupated. I haven’t been able to get a good image as it’s under the tissue and seems partly stuck to the glass jar. And I realised that I’ll now need to wait until at least next May, maybe later to see which moth emerges. What’s that about patience being a virtue?!

211012 pammene larval mine (5)

Moth mines in Acer seeds

11 Monday Oct 2021

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On 29 September, SEWBReC (the South East Wales Biodiversity Records Centre) posted the following tweet:

Calling keen members of #TeamLeafmine. [The county moth recorder] is hoping for Glamorgan records of seed miners of Acer species this year: Etainia louisella on Field Maple / Ectoedemia sericopeza on Norway Maple / Ectoedemia decentella on Sycamore.

Being a keen member of Team Leafmine, I had to take up the challenge. Field maples are quite common locally so the mines in their seeds have been the easiest to find, though they’re by no means common. I’ve managed to find them in two locations so far.

211011 Ectoedemia louisella on Field maple (1)OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

There are not so many Norway maples in my area – they’re not native, of course, and seem mostly to have been planted in parks, in housing developments, along roadside verges. So far, I’ve found Ectoedemia sericopeza mines on Norway maples at two sites.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA211011 Ectoedemia sericopeza on norway maple (2)

As for the mines in Sycamore seeds, well, I quickly realised that most of the local trees are quite tall so the seeds are unreachable. And trees planted in parks and gardens often have their lower branches trimmed off, which also doesn’t help. The solution I’ve found is to search through seeds once they’re fallen off the trees, though they are then very brown, often dirty and sometimes damaged so the mines are not easy to spot. I’ve failed in this search so far but I have found something else in Sycamore seeds … more on that tomorrow.

Moth hot spot

06 Wednesday Oct 2021

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As I’ve mentioned before, my living situation doesn’t lend itself to having a moth trap but there is a local site where I often see moths if I’m out walking in the early mornings. As you can see from the photo below, a streetlight (red arrow) sits above a footpath between two blocks of terraced houses. The light attracts the moths, which then sometimes shelter on the walls (blue arrows) during the day.

211006 mothing spot

As well as the Early grey and Early thorn found back in 2018, I’ve since discovered several more beautiful moths on these walls. The first three, seen last year, are Mottled umber (Erannis defoliaria), the Peppered moth (Biston betularia), and the Winter moth (Operophtera brumata) – you might remember I blogged about the larva of this last moth earlier in the year (Caterpillar in a tent, May 2021).

These next two are more recent sightings, both spotted in the past month. The first is Small dusty wave (Idaea seriata), the second Large ranunculus (Polymixis flavicincta).

211006 4 Small Dusty Wave211006 5 Large Ranunculus

Elephant hawk-moth caterpillar

28 Saturday Aug 2021

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I was heading home from Cosmeston after a lovely wander but not having seen much in the way of wildlife when this superb creature appeared on the pavement in front of me – actually, it was lucky I didn’t stand on it!

210828 elephant hawk-moth (2)

There was a family walking along not far behind me and I feared their combination of feet, pushchair and trike wheels might squish the creature so I quickly scooped it up and walked to a small area of waste ground where it might take shelter amongst the tall grasses, wildflowers and low scrub.

210828 elephant hawk-moth (1)

If you’ve never seen one, this is the caterpillar of the Elephant hawk-moth. It feeds on a variety of plants, particularly Rosebay willowherb, but also the other willowherbs, bedstraws, even Himalayan balsam, so can be found where those wildflowers grow. This particular caterpillar looked very well grown so may have been seeking a place to pupate (remember that pupal case I found back in April?). Let’s hope it found a cosy spot under the leaf litter in its new location.

Buff-tip larvae

18 Wednesday Aug 2021

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I’ve never seen a Buff-tip moth (Phalera bucephala) except in photographs (they look incredibly like twigs – see images on the Butterfly Conservation website here). But yesterday I found their larvae, lots of them, all huddled together on the top side and underside of an Oak leaf.

210818 buff tip moth larvae (1)

The adult moth, which flies from May to early August, lays clusters of eggs under the leaves of the trees their caterpillars feed on, which, as well as Oak, include Hazel and the various birches and sallows, amongst others.

210818 buff tip moth larvae (2)

The larvae hatch out after 2-3 weeks and start eating. It takes just a month for them to go through their four instars, after which they move down into the ground to pupate. Come the spring, the whole process begins again.

210818 buff tip moth larvae (3)

Leafmines: Enchanter’s nightshade

03 Saturday Jul 2021

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I’ve been lingering over leafmines again and have a new one to show you, this time on the lovely little plant that carpets the woodland floor at this time of year, Enchanter’s nightshade (Circaea lutetiana).

The mines, which start off as galleries but are often subsumed into the later blotches, are made during June and July by the larvae of Mompha langiella, a rather nondescript little brown moth. The larvae, as described on the British leafminers website, are ‘light yellow, with darker thoracic legs’ (see photo left below), and, most fortunately, I also found a pupa (below right), which are located ‘occasionally in a mined leaf or in a cocoon between the leaves or on the leaves’.

Though Enchanter’s nightshade is widespread in the places where I walk, I’ve only found one site with these leafmines so far. Can you spot them in your local woodland?

Spindle ermine

24 Thursday Jun 2021

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It could be Halloween, with reports of ‘ghostly silken webbing’ that ‘can look rather sinister’ and give trees ‘an eerie appearance’. As well as covering parts of trees and hedgerows, apparently the webs are sometimes ‘so extensive that they can cover nearby objects such as benches, bicycles and gravestones’.

But this is June and in my local woodland, the one I showed you in yesterday’s post, the webs, though plentiful, are nowhere near that dramatic. These are the communal dwellings of moth larvae and, though there are several species of ermine moths, as the caterpillar-filled webs I’ve been seeing have all been on Spindle, I think I’m safe in assuming these are the larvae of Spindle ermine (Yponomeuta cagnagella).

210624 spindle ermine (3)

Although these are the first webs I’ve seen, the Butterfly Conservation website reports that Spindle ermine is a common resident, though it is less common in northern parts of Britain. Look for Spindle trees and you might well see these webs for yourself.