This spectacular aberration of Great Prominent was taken by
my mother (Hazel Mitchell) in Tintern, on the night of 30th April.
From the lateral view in the image, you could be fooled (it
certainly fooled me!) into thinking the moth was an Iron Prominent, only twice
the size and with creamy-white hindwings.
Martin Honey kindly sent me a link the Aberrational and
Subspecific Forms of British Lepidoptera mss by Goodson & Read, which is
now on Biodiversity Heritage library website. From the description, this
melanic form seems to be a good match for ab. nigrescens.
Thanks for posting this sighting up Hazel/Steve.
ReplyDeleteHow unusual, perhaps even a rare encounter. I wonder if this form may be specific to habitat requirements or a throw back to how it's original form used to be. I can understand your thoughts about Iron Prominent.
I've seen quite a few Great Prominent(s) moths over the last couple of years with some fresh ones appearing quite dark brown but not a sooty black colour like this one. It didn't drop down a chimney did it!
Thanks Nick. Yes, possibly a genetic throwback to the time when the wire works were billowing out smoke in the area. Mum has recorded quite a few melanic forms of various species over the past 3 years, so perhaps even the dense shaded woodland has something to do with it, but who can say. The legs and thorax in particular are inky black, it really is a stunning aberration.
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