Two rare Tortricids from Penallt

 

 

Ian Rabjohns dropped by this morning to show me four micros he has caught recently at Penallt; two Notable A Tortricids were really remarkable.  The more distinctive was the Maple-feeding Pammene trauniana, which is distinguished from the common Sycamore-feeding P. regiana by its paler dorsal blotch and squared-off back end to that blotch.  It has one previous Gwent record (Nick Felstead's at Dewstow last May).  The other was a (recently deceased) tiny, dark Cydia with faint pale cross-bars and a few black lines in the ocellus.  Ian reckoned it was C. illutana rather than the similar C. cosmophorana and C. coniferana, and that was confirmed by Sam B using genitalia dissection.  This appears to be the first Welsh record of this rare conifer-feeder.  Ian found it in his greenhouse, which acts as an interception trap (just like my polytunnel).

 

The valva shape of this male Cydia illutana is typical, with a very broad, hairy cucullus (outer end), a limited median notch, and a large tuft of hairs on the basal part; the adeagus was also of typical shape and lacked spines.