Beiträge von Silvio8

Thanks a lot for your replies! So far, I have found two eggs of (presumably) C. nupta: one on Salix alba and one on Populus x canadensis. On the exact same places as where you would expect C. fraxini eggs. Like you both have described, the eggs of C. nupta seem to have a finer structure. To me the ridges seem more apparent. Maybe this is because the ridges in the chorion of C. nupta eggs are actually folds, contrary to the ridges on the eggs of C. fraxini. Like described by Kolesnichenko & Sidorov (2019; 2021).

In the Netherlands, fraxini and nupta are the only Catocala species on Populus. As far as I know, C. electa went extinct a long time ago. Nupta is far more common than the very rare fraxini. Hence, when I posted my egg findings on de Dutch observation.org, a couple of admins started asking me questions. How do I know with absoluty certainty that these are the eggs of fraxini? A right question, when taking into account at the limited available comparitive material on the internet or in literature. When I look up 'Catocala nupta eggs' on Google, some eggs -like shown here- have striking similarities with the fraxini eggs I found.

For now I stand by my opinion that I really did find live eggs of Catocala fraxini . I'm glad that you think the same!

Best regards, Silvio

Hi,

Posting in this thread since there are some useful images in here. I found these eggs on two large P. tremulas in a forest last week. How do I know for sure these are from fraxini or nupta?
~

Ich habe diese Eier letzte Woche auf Espen gefunden. Wie unterscheide ich im Freien zwischen fraxini und nupta?

Grüß, Silvio

Hi Toni,

Have you seen the article 'Fine Structure of the Egg Chorion in Catocala (Lepidoptera, Erebidae)' by Kolesnichenko & Sidorov (2021)? I believe it to be very helpful for the identification of Catocala eggs. I'm currently on the look for C. promissa as well, since it's very rare here, but is increasingly becoming more common. Would be a blast to actually find it (but I probably won't). Unfortunately, C. fraxini isn't pictured in the article. But thankfully you already provided us with plenty reference material .

Best regards,

Silvio

Hallo,

Ich würde sagen das ist Anabolia nervosa.

Aber ich kenne die Köcherfliegen des Wallis nicht, also könnte es eine ähnlich aussehende Art geben

Today I returned to the plant on which I found some Sphingid eggs a few weeks ago. I found two young caterpillars of P. proserpina (see attached photo).
Mystery solved.

Kind regards,
Silvio

Hi Marcus & Udo,

Ich denke es ist Helcystogramma sp., möglich H. lutatella.

Gruß,
Silvio

Thanks, I didn't know D. elpenor uses Oenothera as host as well.
I'm going back there in about two weeks from now. I'm hoping to find some Proserpina caterpillars then
I'll keep you guys posted if I do.

Kind regards,
Silvio

Hi,

Thanks for your quick replies.
Epilobium species are the most common host plants here as well. But they're also regularly found on Oenothera.

If it could not be Proserpinus proserpina, what other species could lay it's eggs on these plants?

I added two more pictures of the eggs.

Kind regards,
Silvio

Hi Leute,

Today I found four eggs on the underside of Oenothera leaves. They're about 1 mm in diameter. It was on a sunny, warm urban wasteland in the southern part of The Netherlands.
Can anyone tell me with certainty if this is Proserpinus proserpina?

Best regards,
Silvio

Hi,

The Dutch Butterfly Association has started developing and distributing a type of moth trap using 395 nm UV Led-strips. They call it the 'LedBucket' (it's a big bucket with a funnel on top) and it's powered with a small powerbank. This new type of trap is now deployed by volunteers to monitor moth-trends on a larger (and cheaper), nationwide scale.
The Led-strips used cost no more than €1,- when bought from a Chinese webstore like AliExpress.

I have also developed my own types of budget moth traps using these lights. My traps (see attached picture for one example) are very lightweight and completely foldable (except for the lamp, battery and egg boxes of course). I use them when traveling or when I'm in places where catching with a very bright MV-lamp and noisy generator is inconvenient.
Of course, the number of caught moths is not as high when compared to a trap with a powerful lamp or an actual blacklight. But it still does the job very well! The other attached pic shows Endromis versicolora attracted with a UV Led-strip on one of my tree hanging traps. One other time I caught four different species of Spinghidae using this type of light in one night (which is a good number around here)! Different color leds can be used to complete the 'moth-attracting spectrum', but needless to say, I am very contented with just UV-leds

Best regards,
Silvio

Hi,

Nascia cilialis & Evergestis limbata
Beide Crambidae.

Gruß,
Silvio

10. ...?
11. Deserticossus selevini (Yakovlev & Witt, 2006) ?
12. Acantholipes sp. Doesn't really look like A. regularis to me. Do any other species of this genus occur in Central Asia?

7. is Anania verbascalis
8 & 9 are still a mystery to me.

Es ist eine Bunte Bandeule (Noctua fimbriata).

Gruß,
Silvio

Hi,

1. Acronicta vulpina
2. Subacronicta megacephala
3. Panthea coenobita
4. Papilio machaon (orientis?)
5. ?
6. Protoschinia scutosa
7. ?
8. Hyles gallii
9. Melanchra persicariae

Grüße,
Silvio

Thank you so much!

Best regards,
Silvio

Hi all,

This past weekend, 19 adult Acherontia atropos were reported to be found in a wood stove in the Netherlands.
While I usually doubt such strange/bold reports to be true, this one included a curious description and a picture of 4 dead A. atropos covered in ashes.

The report describes odd noises coming from the stove after lighting it. After opening the stove door, multiple adult A. atropos came falling down. The founder put out the fire and brought 15 moths that were still alive outside. Four dead ones remained.

This report made me wonder if anyone else knows if A. atropos is able to overwinter in it's adult stage in such large numbers? As far as I know, they mainly (attempt to) overwinter as a pupa here in the northern region of its' range.
I know that Macroglossum stellatarum, another migratory Sphingidae, is able to hibernate in caves and such. But in literature I've never read about this phenomenon occuring with A. atropos.
So is this just a false report or do you think it might be true?

Kind regards,
Silvio

4. Seems to be Epischnia prodromella

Found one:
1. is Dicranura ulmi

Part six.

- Silvio

16-17. North TianShan Mountains, 26-06-2018