Thursday 4 August 2022

The Scarce Aspen Midget, Phyllonorycter sagitella,

 

On the Aspen semi-sapling to the east of the main path up from the dog-bin, about half a dozen mines, most vacated. This used to be a rare micro-moth in the UK, confined to the wetter west, although with quite a wide distribution across Europe, but has now spread extensively, with quite a few records in the Southeast, including Kent, with quite a few records on the Kent Moths Facebook page.


I suppose these could be the older mines of the first generation, as the pupae appear to have already hatched out into adults rather than overwintering as pupae, which I assume that they do? But are there genuinely two generations, KMG seem to suggest not?

Fascinating to see the split open pupal cases half projecting from some of the mines, indicating the departure of the next generation of adults. 



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