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Moths

Andy_X said:
Does anybody know what species this little fella is? I've loooked in books and moth-related websites but no joy finding an exact match. Plus I'm being lazy.
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Andy I don't know what it is but I took a liberty and posted your photos here -

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=3511053#post3511053

If anyone will know it's the people on that forum.
EDIT : I might get asked for a location and which month it was sighted in.
 
Viola! It's a Large Ranunculus. Not rare or outside its usual habitat as it turns out, but good to know as it's not the usual species we get here (whatever those ones are). My curiosity is satisfied. Thanks David.
 
A pleasure. I knew they would mention location and time mind you.
Here is a pic I took ages ago at a tiny nature reserve just off Brancepeth, Durham. The Narrow-Bordered Five spot Burnet, a diurnal moth.

Screen Shot 2017-01-10 at 10.36.26jpeg.jpg
 
davidplankton said:
A pleasure. I knew they would mention location and time mind you.
Here is a pic I took ages ago at a tiny nature reserve just off Brancepeth, Durham. The Narrow-Bordered Five spot Burnet, a diurnal moth.

View attachment 3938
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A magnificent name for a moth and extra points to whoever named it for it not being in Latin.
 
davidplankton said:
A pleasure. I knew they would mention location and time mind you.
Here is a pic I took ages ago at a tiny nature reserve just off Brancepeth, Durham. The Narrow-Bordered Five spot Burnet, a diurnal moth.

View attachment 3938
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What I meant to add was -

To illustrate my point about location and time being important factors in identifying insect species. I had always assumed that my pic was of a regular Five Spot. But now, because I know it was taken in Durham and because I know the exact date it was taken, I can safely say it is a Narrow-Bordered Five Spot because regular Five Spots are more abundant in the south and they emerge as adults a month earlier than their northern cousins.
That and slight differences in wing patterns.

Is their a name for a moth nerd? Can I propose 'Lepper'?
(from Lepidopterist)
 
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GNC said:
It'll have a Latin name as well, because not everyone speaks English. But it is a good name, I'd have just called it mothy.
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Or perhaps Mothy McMothface .. if I ever discover a new species of moth I'm calling it Dave.
 
New moth species named after Donald Trump

A new species of moth that resembles President-elect Donald Trump has been discovered in California. The moth has “yellowish blonde scales covering the head” and has been named 'Neopala Donaltrumpi' after the next President of the United States.

Biologist Dr Vazrick Nazari was the man who made the discovery after an analysis of a collection of moths from the Museum of Entomology, at the University of California.

He told 5 live the moth is “barely a centimetre wide in wing span so it’s a tiny moth. It seems to be very rare.”
He also says he hopes the President-elect “takes it with the good intention it was intended.”

Trump is not the only president to have an animal named after them after Barak Obama had a fish called 'Tosanoides Obama' named after him last year…
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Audio clip and photos at link.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04pyc1t
 
Rapid rise of clothes moths threatens historic fabrics.

Rare furnishings and fabrics in England's historic houses are under growing threat from an epidemic of clothes moths, say experts.
English Heritage says that moth numbers have doubled in the past five years, most likely because of warmer weather.

A new species has been found feeding happily on the ancient wool carpets and tapestries under their care.
The charity is seeking the public's help to track the spread of the fluttering, destructive creatures.

With many historic houses and sites opening up to the public this week, conservation experts at English Heritage are concerned about the potential damage that clothes moths can wreak.
Many of the 2,400 species of moths found in the UK pose a threat to clothing, upholstery, furs and even stuffed animals......
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-39504494


I don't see how this is a 'new species'. That would be an important discovery, no?
 
This was on Today just now. The lady being interviewed was giggling. I reckon she'd just been told The Moth Joke. ;)
 
I got a moth some years ago, everybody flew out the toilet at work but i stopped and picked it up, it was about one and a half inches long and had the most beautiful amber eyes, it was a pale brownish colour.
So we have gone from trying to kill moths to the Moth Appreciation Thread ? :p
 
davidplankton said:
I don't see how this is a 'new species'. That would be an important discovery, no?
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I suspect new moth species aren't actually that big a deal as there are zillions of them and there must be loads undiscovered. It is not like finding a new species of ape or dolphin.
 
min_bannister said:
I suspect new moth species aren't actually that big a deal as there are zillions of them and there must be loads undiscovered. It is not like finding a new species of ape or dolphin.
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Yes but this one has been found living in 'England's historic houses'. People have been studying moths here since at least the 1700's, I don't think there are any new ones left to discover in the UK.

I think it actually means a new strain of clothes moth which is more resilient to pesticides.
 
So it can eat you out of house and home, until you switch a light on, unless this one wears foster grants
 
davidplankton said:
Rapid rise of clothes moths threatens historic fabrics.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-39504494


I don't see how this is a 'new species'. That would be an important discovery, no?
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Suffering a plague of these little bastards at the moment - fahzunds of 'em!*

Am concerned about my finest jumpers and other natural fibre garments.

Afterthought: they are the wasps of moths (wasp of moth?). Bah :mad:


*(exaggeration)
 
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Oddly, for the first time in about 10 years, I don't seem to have any moths here.
I must have starved them out.
 
Wot, no moth news for two years?

Anyway, I have had problems with moths eating stuff - including my favourite scarf (grrr) - and I'll admit to instantly destroying one quite recently as 2019's generation are starting to emerge from Lord knows where and I fear for my natural fibres (I've taken all the precautions in the past, to no avail).

But here's a puzzling thing: some 13.5% wine was flowing tonight and one of the little sods ended up floating inert in my glass. It must have been there for several minutes and appeared totally immobile, as you'd expect ... nevertheless, being a soft-hearted idiot I fished the evil clothes-destroying monster to safety on a bit of tissue paper assuming is was dead, what with it having been inhaling ethanol through its spiracles, or whatever, for quite some time and being dyed slightly red - and yet saw it fluttering its wings and generally trying to cling to life almost immediately.

Left the scene for about two minutes and the f*cker had legged it.

This isn't the first time this has happened with one of my drinks and moths. How on Earth is a tiny baby insect able to survive immersion in alcohol? Will it have survived, or simply limped off to expire somewhere nearby?

I like moths, but this is war. I'm turning on the UV electrocuter.
 
Andy X said:
Wot, no moth news for two years?

Anyway, I have had problems with moths eating stuff - including my favourite scarf (grrr) - and I'll admit to instantly destroying one quite recently as 2019's generation are starting to emerge from Lord knows where and I fear for my natural fibres (I've taken all the precautions in the past, to no avail).

But here's a puzzling thing: some 13.5% wine was flowing tonight and one of the little sods ended up floating inert in my glass. It must have been there for several minutes and appeared totally immobile, as you'd expect ... nevertheless, being a soft-hearted idiot I fished the evil clothes-destroying monster to safety on a bit of tissue paper assuming is was dead, what with it having been inhaling ethanol through its spiracles, or whatever, for quite some time and being dyed slightly red - and yet saw it fluttering its wings and generally trying to cling to life almost immediately.

Left the scene for about two minutes and the f*cker had legged it.

This isn't the first time this has happened with one of my drinks and moths. How on Earth is a tiny baby insect able to survive immersion in alcohol? Will it have survived, or simply limped off to expire somewhere nearby?

I like moths, but this is war. I'm turning on the UV electrocuter.
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Don't give 'em a chance - terminate with extreme prejudice. I had a serious moth infestation a few years back. No doubt still got some but nowhere near as bad. They will find your best wool products & eat them first. Once the best have been chewed & you've thrown them out they'll find your next best & so on.

It's got to the point where, having eaten my wool jumpers, they've started on my carpets. To fully get rid of them you'd probably have to have some serious chemical spraying everywhere.

I think they're attracted to liquids. I've found them in glasses of water. Beer & wine isn't in the glass long enough for the buggers to get in.

Other types of moth are fine but the wool eating ones I hoover up mercilessly.
 
Thanks; good advice, both. I'll look into the more 'industrial' solutions. Needless to say those stupid cedarwood things are a complete waste of time - 'they don't like the smell and it's organic' ... yeah, right.

My bug zapper took down hundreds of the bastards last year ... but still they came.

They are legion.
 
Andy X said:
How on Earth is a tiny baby insect able to survive immersion in alcohol?
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Bad form to quote self, but have worked out how they do it: it's probably surface tension that keeps them going as they lounge on their personal meniscus at the wineline and therefore can breathe a bit and don't get all that poisoned.

It's just a theory.

Know thine enemy.
 
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Monstrosa said:
Try diatomaceous earth, it cuts the cuticle and they dehydrate. Pheromone traps if you're certain it is moths. Vacuum daily.
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Never heard of diatomaceous earth before - I'll get some. On googling, it's reputed to kill egg & larva, which actually do the damage. I've got moth spray which kills moths once they've hatched but I'm not convinced it kills the eggs before they hatch. I also use pheromone traps, which certainly work once they've hatched. Hoovering daily I'm not so good at.
 
I only get the odd moth now and again and they never touch my woolies, now I have said that I will be besieged by the buggers. Wonder if its the Comfort I use on my clothes, and i have a spray bottle and spray everything with it, smells loverly :p
 
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