New species found in the Waveney Valley

I had high hopes of getting a few moths during the warm evening of last Thursday. The large number of hornets in the first trap I inspected soon dashed these hopes and I contemplated packing up if the other 2 traps were also full. Fortunately these contained only a handful that were soon potted. Even so, there were not many moths about considering the ideal conditions and the final species count was 10 including a few Diamond-back and Rusty-dot Pearl that had probably come in on the southerly breeze.  I had also potted a small pale micro that at first glance looked like a Coleophora but further inspection revealed that it had a row of black scale tufts so I pocketed it to check in the morning.
On checking the books and web-sites the nearest I could get to an ID was Epermenia aequidentellus. Unlikely for this area as nearly all records come from the south coast with no records for Norfolk or Suffolk, so I sent a few photos out for second opinion and all agreed that it could well be this species. Jon Clifton gen/detted it today and confirmed it as a male Epermenia aequidentellus.                                                                                                              As it was recorded on the Norfolk bank of the Waveney it goes down as a first record for Norfolk but it could well have drifted across from Suffolk on the southerly wind. Its recorded habitat is mainly coastal, living on wild carrot, so it could be worth looking out for it at some of the Suffolk coastal sites.

Epermenia aequidentellus 30/10/14 Burgh St Peter
Brian

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One Response to New species found in the Waveney Valley

  1. Raymond Watson says:

    Excellent catch Brian. Well spotted.

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