Review of 2019 and 2020 - Moths: Poplar and Pine Cosmets (Batrachedridae) and Case-bearers (Coleophoridae) (Part 1)

POPLAR & PINE COSMETS (BATRACHEDRIDAE)


Poplar Cosmet Batrachedra praeangusta - 2 in my garden trap on 23rd July 2019 and one on 29th July 2020.  Also one at Swanton Great Wood on 27th August 2019.  I had never seen this species until 2018 when I recorded 3 at home and one elsewhere - is this species suddenly increasing, or has it just enjoyed a couple of good years, or is it just coincidence?

Poplar Cosmet Batrachedra praeangusta, North Elmham, 29th July 2020

Pine Cosmet Batrachedra pinicolella - One in the garden on 24th June 2020.  This species has seen a massive upsurge in records in recent years starting with one at my old house in 2013, the first county record for 129 years!  I caught them here in North Elmham in 2015, 2016 and 3 times in 2017 but although records across the county continued to increase I then had a couple of blank years in 2018-19.

Pine Cosmet Batrachedra pinicolella, North Elmham, 24th June 2020

-----------------------------------

CASE-BEARERS (COLEOPHORIDAE)

4 new species for the garden in 2019 (including one that was completely new for me) and another completely new one in 2020 brought my garden Coleophora list up to 43.


Silver-streaked Case-bearer Coleophora limoniella - None in 2019 but 20 swept from a single Sea Lavendar plant at Brancaster on 2nd July 2020.  One at home in 2018 was quite unexpected given that this saltmarsh species hadn't turned up inland in Norfolk prior to that year.  I don't expect a repeat anytime soon.


Common Oak Case-bearer Coleophora lutipennella - 3 in my garden trap between 10th and 22nd July 2019, a slightly below average year for this species, and then 4 between 29th June and 6th August 2020.  Also 3 at the meadows (26th July 2019 and 18th July and 7th August 2020) and one at Bintree Wood.  These are always dissected to confirm ID - I'm yet to find any features that are even indicative of this species rather than the similarly common flavipennella.

male Common Oak Case-bearer Coleophora lutipennella, North Elmham, 10th July 2019

male Common Oak Case-bearer Coleophora lutipennella, North Elmham, 29th June 2020

female Common Oak Case-bearer Coleophora lutipennella, North Elmham, 6th August 2020

Rose Case-bearer Coleophora gryphipennella - None.  I've only had one of these here (and anywhere) so far, in 2018.


Tipped Oak Case-bearer Coleophora flavipennella - One at the meadows on 7th July 2019 followed by 5 in the garden trap between 8th and 22nd July and then another 5 in 2020, between 16th June and 7th July.  Fairly typical years for this species which seems to be a little bit commoner than lutipennella (from which separation requires gen detting).

male Tipped Oak Case-bearer Coleophora flavipennella , North Elmham, 20th July 2019

male Tipped Oak Case-bearer Coleophora flavipennella , North Elmham, 16th June 2020

male Tipped Oak Case-bearer Coleophora flavipennella , North Elmham, 22nd June 2020

Buff Birch Case-bearer Coleophora milvipennis - None.  I've had just one record of this species here, in 2016.  It's tricky species to identify even with reference to the genitalia - my 2016 record required input from an international expert to confirm.


Pale Elm Case-bearer Coleophora badiipennella - None.  I've only had one of these here too, in 2015.


Dark Elm Case-bearer Coleophora limosipennella - None.  One of the more widespread and well-recorded Coleophora that I've not yet recorded.


Blackthorn Case-bearer Coleophora coracipennella - A female caught here on 23rd July 2019, my second record following one in 2017.  None in 2020.  Described as rare, although there have been a few recent records so I suspect it's more a case of being under-recorded.

female Blackthorn Case-bearer Coleophora coracipennella, North Elmham, 23rd July 2019

Common Case-bearer Coleophora serratella - Adults trapped at home on 23rd July 2019 and 26th and 31st July 2020.  Cases found at the meadows on Downy Birch on 26th April 2019 and Rough Chervil on 3rd June 2020, the latter causing me an ID challenge as Rough Chervil doesn't have any Coleophora listed as occurring on it, but thanks to Keith and Rob who pointed out that some Coleophora (especially this one) wander from their foodplants in order to pupate.  Although this is supposed to be the commonest of all the Coleophora I didn't find my first until 2018 (when I caught 4, including 3 here).

occupied case of Common Case-bearer Coleophora serratella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 26th April 2019

female Common Case-bearer Coleophora serratella, North Elmham, 23rd July 2019

case of Common Case-bearer Coleophora serratella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 3rd June 2020

male Common Case-bearer Coleophora serratella, North Elmham, 26th July 2020

female Common Case-bearer Coleophora serratella, North Elmham, 31st July 2020

Apple & Plum Case-bearer Coleophora spinella - 4 trapped at home between 12th and 23rd July 2019 and 3 between 3rd and 17th July 2020.  4 is the most I've had here in a year - 2 is more typical.  Also a case that I think was probably this species on Hawthorn at the meadows on 15th May 2019.

probable case of Apple & Plum Case-bearer Coleophora spinella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 15th May 2019

female Apple & Plum Case-bearer Coleophora spinella, North Elmham, 12th July 2019

female Apple & Plum Case-bearer Coleophora spinella, North Elmham, 3rd July 2020

male Apple & Plum Case-bearer Coleophora spinella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 13th July 2020

Scarce Thorn Case-bearer Coleophora trigeminella - None.  I had 2 here on one night in 2017, the year I recorded Norfolk's second, third, fourth and fifth records of this species.  There have been others since so a repeat wouldn't be altogether unexpected.


Osier Case-bearer Coleophora lusciniaepennella - One caught at home on 23rd June 2019 and one at Weybourne on 5th July.  None in 2020.  I've had 3 previous records here (2015 and 2017).

female Osier Case-bearer Coleophora lusciniaepennella, Weybourne, 5th July 2019

Violet Case-bearer Coleophora violacea - None.  Although there aren't large numbers of records of this species it must be fairly high up on the list of next most likely candidates to be added to my Coleophora list.


Shaded Case-bearer Coleophora potentillae - None.  Another one that I haven't seen yet but must have a good chance of cropping up here.  So far the nearest I've got is seeing its feeding signs.


Next page: more Coleophora

Coleophora solitariella - first modern record of an adult in Norfolk

A stroll round Syderstone Common during my lunch break on 4th July produced 16 Small Heaths, Ringlet and some Meadow Browns.  Several Skippers were too fleeting to identify but one that sat out was a Small Skipper.  The only moths seen were 4 Common Greys Scoparia ambigualis.

It's always exciting to see what you can find among the Coleophora, but if you get anything good you tend not to know it until you have it under a microscope.  Often though you can have a pretty good stab at the ID beforehand and when you get stuck on externals there's a better chance that the internals will reveal something interesting.  That was the case with one of the Coleophora on 4th July.  Not obvious what it might be on externals so I chopped it.  I didn't immediately recognise the genitalia so at this point I went back to the moth and took it through the key in MOGBI.  That often fails - a moth only has to have antennae ringed to the tip when MOGBI thinks it shouldn't and the right answer gets ruled out, for example, but on this occasion it came up trumps.  Once a provisional answer had been arrived at I checked the genitalia against that and yes, that was the boy!  Ochreous Case-bearer Coleophora solitariella.  Not many records in Norfolk and looking at the detail it seems that all the modern ones are of larvae.  There are two records from 1874 that don't say if they're adult or not, but mine seems to be the first adult to be found (and identified) in Norfolk in modern times.

That might suggest that they're rather rare, but I suspect they're not really.  Stewart Wright has found their larvae in several places over the last couple of years so they can't be all that rare.  Various references say the adults are rarely observed, so presumably it just doesn't come to light all that often for some reason.  Plus of course it's a Coleophora - not many people bother with them!

Ochreous Case-bearer Coleophora solitariella (male, gen det), North Elmham, 4th July

A couple of other micros were new for the house: Little Slender Calybites phasianipennella and Blotched Marble Endothenia quadrimaculana.

Little Slender Calybites phasianipennella, North Elmham, 4th July

Blotched Marble Endothenia quadrimaculana, North Elmham, 4th July

Most of the other additions to the garden year list were also micros: Tipped Oak Case-bearer Coleophora flavipennella, Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix Pandemis heparana, 3 Variegated Golden Tortrices Archips xylosteana, Holly Tortrix Rhopobota naevana, White-foot Bell Epiblema foenella, Pearl Grass-veneer Catoptria pinella and Scalloped Oak.

Pearl Grass-veneer Catoptria pinella, North Elmham, 4th July

White-foot Bell Epiblema foenella, North Elmham, 4th July

Scalloped Oak, North Elmham, 4th July

Vareigated Golden Tortrix Archips xtlosteana, North Elmham, 4th July

Tipped Oak Case-bearer Coleophora flavipennella (male, gen det), North Elmham, 4th July

Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix Pandemis heparana, North Elmham, 4th July

 Holly Tortrix Rhopobota naevana, North Elmham, 4th July

Of the 81 species of moth recorded that night the rest of the micros were 2 Case-bearing Clothes Moths Tinea pellionella, Beech Midget Phyllonorycter maestingella, Diamond-back Moth Plutella xylostella, 2 Brown House Moths Hofmannophila pseudospretella, Dark Groundling Bryotropha affinis, Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix Pandemis cerasana, 7 Large Fruit-tree Tortrices Archips podana, 2 Privet Tortrices Clepsis consimilana, 3 Large Ivy Tortrices Lozotaenia forsterana, Flax Tortrix Cnephasia asseclana, Light Grey Tortrix Cnephasia incertana, Yellow Oak Button Aleimma loeflingiana, 5 Barred Marbles Celypha striana, 12 Common Marbles Celypha lacunana, Plum Tortrix Hedya pruniana, 3 Marbled Orchard Tortrices Hedya nubiferana, Crescent Bell Epinotia bilunana, 29 Garden Grass-veneers Chrysoteuchia culmella, 3 Grass-veneers Crambus pascuella, 2 Common Greys Scoparia ambigualis, Base-lined Grey Scoparia basistrigalis, Little Grey Eudonia lacustrata, 3 Small Magpies Anania hortulata, Beautiful Knot-horn Rhodophaea formosa, False Cacao Moth Ephestia unicolorella and White Plume Pterophorus pentadactyla.

Beautiful Knot-horn Rhodophaea formosa, North Elmham, 4th July

Beech Midget Phyllonorycter maestingella, North Elmham, 4th July

The remaining micros were 2 Small Fan-footed Waves, Single-dotted Wave, 4 Treble Brown Spots, 7 Riband Waves, 4 Barred Straws, Sandy Carpet, 2 Grey Pugs, Green Pug, Clouded Border, Swallow-tailed Moth, 2 Peppered Moths, 5 Willow Beauties, Mottled Beauty, Clouded Silver, 3 Elephant Hawkmoths, Rosy Footman, Common Footman, Buff Ermine, 2 Heart and Darts, 10 Flames, Flame Shoulder, 5 Large Yellow Underwings, Setaceous Hebrew Character, 7 Double Square-spots, Dot Moth, Bright-line Brown-eye, Clay, 2 Smoky Wainscots, Common Wainscot, 2 Poplar Greys, 3 Brown Rustics, Small Angle Shades, 9 Dark Arches, Light Arches, Marbled Minor, Rufous Minor, Tawny Marbled Minor, 3 Middle-barred Minors, 7 Uncertains, 2 Mottled Rustics, 2 Burnished Brasses, Spectacle, 3 Straw Dots, 6 Snouts and Fan-foot.

Rufous Minor (male, gen det), North Elmham, 4th July

Caddisflies included Polycentropus flavomaculatus, Hydropsyche sp. (probably siltalai), Limnephilus auriculas, Limnephilus lunatus and Leptocerus tineiformis. Also another Summer Chafer.

The following night there were just 4 new for the year: Grey Tortrix Cnephasia stephensiana, Twin-barred Knot-horn Homoeosoma sinuella, Common Rustic and Rustic.

The others were Little Dwarf Elachista canapennella, Large Fruit-tree Tortrix Archips podana, Large Ivy Tortrix Lozotaenia forsterana, Flax Tortrix Cnephasia asseclana, 6 Barred Marbles Celypha striana, 2 Common Marbles Celypha lacunana, Marbled Orchard Tortrix Hedya nubiferana, 3 Garden Grass-veneers Chrysoteuchia culmella, Grass-veneer Crambus pascuella, 3 Small Magpies Anania hortulata, Ermine Knot-horn Phycitodes binaevella, White Plume Pterophorus pentadactyla, Small Fan-footed Wave, 2 Dwarf Cream Waves, Treble Brown Spot, Riband Wave, 3 Barred Straws, Barred Yellow, Clouded Border, Scorched Wing, Brimstone Moth, Scalloped Oak, Peppered Moth, Willow Beauty, 2 Common Footmen, 9 Buff Ermines, 2 Cinnabars, 2 Flames, Bright-line Brown-eye, Brown Rustic, 3 Dark Arches, Marbled Minor, Tawny Marbled Minor, Middle-barred Minor, 9 Uncertains, 2 Spectacles, Beautiful Hook-tip, Straw Dot, 4 Snouts and Small Fan-foot.

A couple of mediocre days before it kicks off again

8th July was another quietish day though Tipped Oak Case-bearer Coleophora flavipennella was new for the year.

Tipped Oak Case-bearer Coleophora flavipennella (male, gen det), North Elmham, 8th July

The rest were Golden-brown Tubic Crassa unitella, Brown House-moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella, Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix Pandemis cerasana, 4 Common Marbles Celypha lacunana, 13 Garden Grass-veneers Chrysoteuchia culmella, 2 Common Greys Scoparia ambigualis, 2 Little Greys Eudonia lacustrata, Small Grey Eudonia mercurella, 2 Small Magpies Eurrhypara hortulata, Bee Moth Aphomia sociella, Common Plume Emmelina monodactyla, Ghost Moth, 3 Small Blood-veins, Small Fan-footed Wave, Dwarf Cream Wave, Single-dotted Wave, 5 Riband Waves, Barred Straw, Barred Yellow, Clouded Border, 2 Brimstone Moths, 4 Willow Beauties, 2 Mottled Beauties, Bordered White, Common Wave, Privet Hawkmoth, Elephant Hawkmoth, Rosy Footman, 17 Common Footmen, 7 Buff Ermines, Cinnabar, 2 Heart and Darts, 2 Flames, 3 Double Square-spots, Bright-line Brown-eye, Clay, 3 Smoky Wainscots, Brown Rustic, 3 Dark Arches, 25 Uncertains, 4 Rustics, 2 Burnished Brasses, Straw Dot and 3 Snouts.

9th July was equally mediocre.  Again just one new for the year, Hawthorn Ermel Paraswammerdamia nebulella.

Hawthorn Ermel Paraswammerdamia nebuella, North Elmham, 8th July

The others were Woundwort Case-bearer Coleophora lineolea, White Sallow Case-bearer Coleophora albidella, Large Ivy Tortrix Lozotaenia forsterana, 2 Grey Tortrices Cnephasia stephensiana, 6 Common Marbles Celypha lacunana, Plum Tortrix Hedya pruniana, 2 Garden Grass-veneers Chrysoteuchia culmella, Grass-veneer Crambus pascuella, Little Grey Eudonia lacustrata, 2 Small Magpies Eurrhypara hortulata, Bee Moth Aphomia sociella, Small Blood-vein, Single-dotted Wave, Riband Wave, Garden Carpet, Barred Straw, Barred Yellow, 2 Clouded Borders, 4 Brimstone Moths, Early Thorn, Swallow-tailed Moth, Common White Wave, Lesser Swallow Prominent, 3 Buff-tips, Yellow-tail, 15 Common Footmen, 10 Buff Ermines, Heart and Dart, 8 Double Square-spots, Dot Moth, Brown-line Bright-eye, 2 Clays, 6 Smoky Wainscots, 2 Brown Rustics, 32 Uncertains, Rustic, 4 Burnished Brasses, 2 Spectacles, Beautiful Hook-tip and 2 Snouts.

That'll do for now - I'm going to need all the space of a single post for 10th July... if I can keep it to one!