Saturday 30 July 2016

Apotomis lineana ? Dodford



Caught this micro in my MV last night and immediately knew it was something new for me. My initial thought was Celyphs woodiana because I have a number of old apple trees with mistletoe so it is "on my radar" but after a closer look I dismissed that idea.

Looking at the guide books and internet I am drawn to Apotomis lineana which seems a good fit but there do not appear to be any Worcestershire records.

Is there somthing else I'm missing?

Apologies for the poor pictures. The two on the egg boxes were taken quickly before potting and I was reluctant to take it out of the pot for a better shot as I am good at losing them when I do!

The moth is sitting on the bottom of a 12mm diameter tube to give you an idea of size





Pete Smith
Dodford

6 comments:

  1. Looks good to me Pete. Nice catch.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree. It looks right to me.
    No prior Worcestershire records. There is a record for it from Kinver Edge, Staffs. in 1980, just the wrong side of the VC boundary. There are also very old records from Herefordshire, but it was considered extinct there when Mike and Tony published their atlas in 2004. There is a note in the entry saying there had been only 2 recent records in the UK at that time. Things have clearly improved since then as the moth now appears to be reasonably regular in the Suffolk at least.
    A great find.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes you will perhaps notice the male on the dissection site that I chopped last year, from north Bucks. Well that's the 5th record since 2002 for that area. Nothing before that.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Peter and thanks Oliver for the additional information.Its nice to add a new species to the Worcestershire list. Just goes to show you never know what you will find in your trap. Which is ,of course, one of the things that makes mothing so compelling.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have just got home from long weekend away. Well done Pete, great find!

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.