Tuesday 12 June 2018

Denisia albimaculea new at the Buckholt


I made a 15 minute stop at the SE entrance to the Buckholt Wood, Monmouth before starting work today, hoping to find a few moths.  I netted a couple of Micros that were fluttering in the morning sunshine over the ride, and was amazed to find a Psyche casta and my first ever Denisia albimaculea sharing the net.  The latter is a really uncommon deadwood-feeding micro, with one questionable record from Glamorgan* the only one I can find for Wales.  A very worn Spatalistis bifasciana swept from grasses by the ride capped off a really worthwhile visit, as it was only the 4th county record.


*Denisia augustella and D. albimaculea were split into separate species in the late 1970s, and there is only one confirmed and localised British record of the former. MBGBI 4(1) shows VC41 as one of 10 counties with a confirmed record of D. albimaculea, but Moths of Glamorgan states that there is no specimen to cover the only county record and that it cannot therefore be identified to either species.

2 comments:

  1. There is a more recent Glamorgan record, but also questionable in its own way: http://gmrg-vc41moths.blogspot.com/2011/05/quite-story.html

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  2. Thanks George - I had forgotten about your intriguing record, which was a fascinating read.

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