22 July 2014
22 July 2014 – Where’s the Yellow Underwing?
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Least Yellow Underwing (Noctua interjecta) |
Martin Handford’s ‘Where’s Wally?’ series of books for children has been one of my favourites while growing up. In the book, the reader is asked to find the protagonist (Wally) dressed in a red and white sweater and light-blue jeans, in a setting filled with hundreds of other people. The sheer number of characters in the illustrations can sometimes be a little overwhelming, but one (and only one of them) is special.
Yesterday I had to solve a ‘Where’s Wally?’ puzzle of my own – in the moth trap. The trap was packed with Yellow Underwings, including the Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba), the Lesser Yellow Underwing (Noctua comes), the Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (Noctua fimbriata) and the Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (Noctua janthe). I counted 130 Yellow Underwings in total. However, only one was a newcomer to the garden. It perched quietly under the clear plastic covering of the trap, its distinctive orange black-banded wings hidden from sight. The new moth was a Least Yellow Underwing (Noctua interjecta caliginosa) adhering to the stringent hierarchy of the Noctua genus where Noctua refers to the night, being also the name of the goddess Athena’s owl. Interjecta means ‘in between’; caliginosa means ‘dark and obscure’ – both words affirming the Least Yellow Underwings humble status in the family order being the most recently named, and smallest in size of the Yellow Underwings.
Post by Bowen Chang (UPenn)
Recent Moths
- 13 July 2022 – Which is which?
- 10 July 2022 – Unusual Plume
- 29 June 2022 – Moths in Disguise
- 20 June 2022 – Headstand Moth
- 17 June 2022 – White-pinion Spotted
- 16 June 2022 – Comfrey Ermel
- 7 March 2022 – Unexpected Gathering
- 9 November 2021 – Muffled against the Cold
- 10 October 2021 – Autumnal Confusion
- 9 September 2021 – Reed Mace and Wainscots
- 25 August 2021 – Caterpillars
- Moth Night – 10 July 2021