7 August 2015

7 August 2015 – The Other Micro

Blastobasis adustella

The other micro (see previous post) has been officially identified as the Dingy Dowd (Blastobasis adustella).  Now it has been pointed out to me it seems impossible that I should have gone backwards and forwards through the Field Guide without noticing the chevron shape the moth carries on its wings.  Blastobasis adustella is one of seven species in this family – the adults resting with their wings overlapping and the antennae held alongside the body. Adustella feeds on dead juniper leaves and the empty seed pods of gorse and (like the others in the Blastobasidae family) was probably introduced to the UK through the horticultural trade.  I can find no reference in Westwood and Humphreys so it probably wasn’t around in the early part of the nineteenth century.  This one is about 7mm in length.