Wednesday 5 September 2012

Oh my.....

Remember the Caloptilia, below? Well, I sent it off to Jon Clifton who has done a gen det and it is indeed a male 0291 Caloptilia hemidactylella. A species not only new to Northumberland, but new to the north of England. This is only the second record in Britain since 1955!  The other records are all from the south west midland area. Once identified, this little chap seems to raise more questions than answers. What is a RDB moth like this doing so far from its known range? Unless its from the continent on its march westward....

Never mind that, its my best catch to date and I'm well cock'a'hoop!!

Caloptila hemidactylella

4 comments:

  1. Nice one, it's always good to get a surprise in the trap! It may be just a speck, but it's a good looking one.
    Tony

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stewart, my lepidopteran envy is bubbling over. Well done, couldn't happen to a nicer fella...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well done! I guess like alot of similiar species are just wrote off as agg's and common stuff, its only when you bother to dissect that you find things!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cheers all.
    Ben, I just knew it was hemidactylella. There is nowt similar on the internet...but to keep the recorders happy you have to be sure.

    ReplyDelete