DWARFS (ELACHISTIDAE) (continued)
Bog Dwarf Elachista utonella - Singles caught at home on
31st July 2019 and 26th July and 11th August 2020. I'd only caught 2
here before, both in 2016. Although I can imagine worn examples would
cause a problem this species seems reasonably distinctive in its
external appearance so I'm surprised it is Grade 4 (requiring gen det) -
there are plenty of Grade 2 species that I find much more troublesome,
including among the Elachistids.
male Bog Dwarf Elachista utonella, North Elmham, 31st July 2019
male Bog Dwarf Elachista utonella, North Elmham, 26th July 2020
Field Dwarf Elachista consortella - I guess this has got to go down as one of the lepidopteran events of the year - at least my year - as I caught Norfolk's first, second and third examples of this species in 2020, all at different sites and spanning both vice counties. The first was with Dave at the meadows, a worn example that I netted on 13th June. It was extremely active in the pot and I never managed to get a good look at it (or a photo of it) while it was stationery, until it was dead. The next one was in my own garden trap on 10th August and like the first, it was too worn to get much of a clue to its identity prior to dissection. Then I caught another with Joe at Whitwell Street on 3rd September and this one was fresh enough to see that it was probably one of the trio of species that were formerly placed in the genus Cosmiotes. It was clearly a good year for this species (which I had seen once before, in Cornwall) and there was a fourth record later in September plus I believe there are a couple more that have recently been dissected and aren't yet showing on Norfolk Moths.
male Field Dwarf Elachista consortella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 13th June 2020
male Field Dwarf Elachista consortella, North Elmham, 10th August 2020
male Field Dwarf Elachista consortella, Whitwell Street, 3rd September 2020
Southern Dwarf Elachista stabilella - It was an exceptional year in Norfolk for all 3 of the former Cosmiotes species but especially consortella and stabilella. I got plenty of the action with consortella but only just snuck in with stabilella, one caught along with the third consortella with Joe at Whitwell Street. There were another 4 records of this species in Norfolk in 2020 (one of which involved 8 individuals) although I'm pretty sure I heard about a couple of others that seem not to have been submitted. There were only 2 previous county records (both from 2016). It will be interesting to see if 2020 goes down as a flash-in-a-pan one-off for the former Cosmiotes or if they will regularly be recorded here from now on. Incidentally I would not currently be able to separate stabilella from freyerella on genitalia, so it's a good job stabilella (and not freyerella) has a white head and vertex (though a worn example might not be resolvable this way). The differences described in the genitalia are extremely subtle and don't appear to correspond to published photos and diagrams of the respective genitalia.
male Southern Dwarf Elachista stabilella, Whitwell Street, 3rd September 2020
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COSMETS (PARAMETRIOTIDAE)
Hawthorn Cosmet Blastodacna hellerella - 2019 was my best year for these to date with a total of 19 here between 22nd June and 25th July. 2020 was more average with 9 between 24th June and 31st July though including a relatively unusual peak of 4 on 26th June. Elsewhere just 3 at Weybourne in July 2019.
Apple-pit Moth Blastodacna atra - One trapped in my garden on 4th August 2019, almost a year after my first here on 5th August 2018. This is quite a scarce species in Norfolk with just 15 previous records. None in 2020.
Apple-pith Moth Blastodacna atra, North Elmham, 4th August 2019
Yellow-headed Cosmet Spuleria flavicaput - One to light at the meadows on 25th May 2019, a first for me. This species enjoyed a good year in 2019 with 6 records across the county, as many as there had been in the previous 30+ years.
Yellow-headed Cosmet Spuleria flavicaput, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 25th May 2019
Next page: Momphidae plus
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