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| Scalloped hook-tip |
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| Suspected ? |
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| Lesser swallow prominents |
Sunday, 28 July 2013
Suspected moth
We are still working through photos from our latest trapping on Cors Fochno. There is an interesting comparison of two Lesser swallow prominents with completely different colouring on the head. Also new to us and not often recorded in Ceredigion, a Suspected moth. Confirmation of identification would be appreciated.
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Are you sure they are both lessers? The white tornal streak looks longer in one than t'other.
ReplyDeleteYes it's a Suspected Tony. The most reliable way to differentiate the two Swallows is to look at the hindwings. In cases like this one, as Liz points out, one is obviously a Lesser and the other likely to not be. Hold the moth by the head and thorax and gently open the wings out exposing the hindwing. The "southernmost point" of the hindwing i.e. the big closest to the end of the abdomen, look for white just inside the edge. For Swallow it is parallel to the edge, for Lesser it is perpendicular to the edge. Hope that helps.
ReplyDeleteHi Liz & Peter,
ReplyDeleteThank you both for the comments.
Just to sort out the question of Swallow or Lesser Swallow, we checked the hindwings at the time. The 'in betweenies' used to get to me before I found out about the h/wing feature.
I have some photos showing the difference that I will put on in a new post.