Carolyn & Evan
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| Yellow & Red-line Quakers |
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| November Moth |
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| Common Carpet |
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| Rusty-dot Pearl |
Saturday, 10 October 2015
Autumnal Moths
Our usual three traps last night produced 12 macro species. These included Yellow & Red-line Quakers, our first November Moth for this year, a 2nd generation Dark Arches and a very fresh 3rd generation Common Carpet. The only micro was an attractive Rusty-dot Pearl.
Carolyn & Evan
Carolyn & Evan
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Is that an aggregate for November moth or did you check the octavals?
ReplyDeleteYes it has to be an agg and has been recorded as such. It is still flying free! Personally I thought by appearance alone it could be the Pale November Moth!
ReplyDeleteEvan
If you are clever enough, you can determine the males without resorting to dissection. The ventral side around the 8th segment, if you gently brush off the scales, it reveals the octavals. They look a bit like Draculas teeth. The Dissection website shows the differences nicely: http://www.dissectiongroup.co.uk/page823.html
ReplyDeleteThe trick is to keep the moth inert during this process. Many moons ago I used to use ethyl acetate to knock them out, more recently I use the freezer and with a bit of trial and error you can get the timing just right so they are put to sleep long enough to see what they are. For removing the scales I use a fine artists brush slightly wetted.
And for those that don't mind keeping them and want to find all 3 species, I'm happy to chop any as per usual. Females can't be done.
I did a few last year and will probably do a few more this year....not that I'm volunteering to do more! I used ethyl acetate but would rather not, so how long in the freezer?
ReplyDeleteIt depends on your pot and how good your freezer is. In a glass pot if my memory is still good, it was around 4 minutes. So not long. Have a play.
ReplyDelete