5 July 2014

4 July 2014 – Close to the Rare

Denisia sp.

This photograph of a moth has been lurking, unidentified, for a number of days.  Finally, thanks to Charlie Fletcher and Harry Beaumont, it has been identified as a member of the Denisia family – but which member it is will probably have to remain a mystery.  Named after a Viennese entomologist [M Denis (1729 – 1800)], this micro moth is not common and could (if it turned out to be Denisia albimaculea) be a significant catch.  However, this is the closest (without dissection) that we can get to its identity, so the Yorkshire Museum’s garden moth-list registers another new species, but whether albimaculea or augustella we do not know.  The Norfolk site is one of the best for giving the common as well as the scientific name for moths caught in the county – especially the less well-known micros – but Denisia doesn’t seem to have been recorded so we are left even more in the dark. 

Where hopefully this moth is.