Thursday 17 July 2008

Kitchen chores, or bores


I think - hope - that this is the first boring picture of a moth I have posted. But I do so for a reason. I had another early start today, to get down to the Bradford & Bingley special shareholders' meeting in Sheffield, so no time to trap. But I was making my tea in the kitchen when I saw this moth on the sideboard. So that's one thing: look out for moths creeping indoors at this time of the year. The other is the matter of identification. This is a pretty battered moth, going bald like a monk on its thorax (the middle of the three insect body parts, between head and abdomen) and without a lot of scales on its wings. It poses a typical identification challenge. If there are entomologists reading this, do you agree with me that it's either a Marbled Minor, a Rufous Minor or a Tawny Marbled Minor? My book (see entry below) says the only way you can distinguish between these three is by checking out the genitalia. Poor moth. I drew the line at that.

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