6th May – Bilberry Pug
The Bilberry Pug is apparently a rare moth in Scotland. The Provisional Atlas shows only two dots; one in Dumfriesshire and the other in vc86 in the oak woods of east Loch Lomondside where about 50 a year are caught in the Rothamsted trap at Rowardennan. I believe that the species may be over-looked elsewhere and that this may in part be because some illustrations, particularly that in Waring et al are misleadingly green. One of the illustrations shows dead individuals from the Rothamsted trap. They are invariably the buff colour shown. I have never detected any green in any individual caught by this trap. It is possible that the killing fluid used in Rothamsted traps causes discolouration although it does not do so with emeralds. This year I have bred the species and my second slide shows an individual that emerged on 6th May. It shows a delicate green background colouration but is nowhere near as green as is illustrated in Waring et al. To judge from this one individual, the photographs in Skinner and in Riley and Prior are much more accurate. 
The Bilberry Pug is apparently a rare moth in Scotland. The Provisional Atlas shows only two dots; one in Dumfriesshire and the other in vc86 in the oak woods of east Loch Lomondside where about 50 a year are caught in the Rothamsted trap at Rowardennan. I believe that the species may be over-looked elsewhere and that this may in part be because some illustrations, particularly that in Waring et al are misleadingly green. One of the illustrations shows dead individuals from the Rothamsted trap. They are invariably the buff colour shown. I have never detected any green in any individual caught by this trap. It is possible that the killing fluid used in Rothamsted traps causes discolouration although it does not do so with emeralds. This year I have bred the species and my second slide shows an individual that emerged on 6th May. It shows a delicate green background colouration but is nowhere near as green as is illustrated in Waring et al. To judge from this one individual, the photographs in Skinner and in Riley and Prior are much more accurate. 
No comments:
Post a Comment