Fire Crackers

Back in the day, after buying 'Skinner 2nd Ed', this was the second moth guide that I bought ....

Apparently 'Pyralid' is derived from the Latin pyralis (which in turn appears to be derived from the Greek pyr = fire). Pyralis was a fly fabled to have lived in fire; perhaps an allusion to moths heading towards candles / torches? Either way some of the species in this group are real crackers (though not necessarily any of those featured here).

Amongst the micros, this group has always been generally sought after - perhaps because accessible guides to other micro groups were limited at best. I used to scrutinise any new Pyralid moths against this guide as I learnt the commoner species, but I don't think I've actually opened my copy in the last ten years or so.

Whilst it is a diverse group with a number of sub-families, there were all Pyralidae back then. Not now; the group has been split into two families, Pyralidae and Crambidae. I've been happily snapping just about anything that sits still by the trap for long enough over the last few weeks, whilst looking for interesting non-leps, and realise I've ended up with a number of photos of various common 'Pyralids' - a good opportunity to actually check which family some of these are in and to overload your screen with far too many images for one blog post.

I'll start with species that are still within the Pyralidae:

Bee Moth

Gold Triangle

Endotricha flammealis

Phycita roborella

Acrobasis consociella

Acrobasis advenella

Euzophera pinguis

Homeosoma sinuella

Rhodophaea formosa

And the following are all within the Crambidae ....

Eudonia lacustrata

Eudonia mercurella

Chrysoteuchia culmella

Crambus pascuella

Agriphila straminella

Catoptria pinella

Water Veneer (female)

Small China-mark (male)

Small China-mark (female)

Ringed China-mark (male)

Ringed China-mark (female)

Pyrausta aurata

Anania perlucidalis

Udea prunalis

Mother of Pearl

It doesn't take a genius to see that there are moths within both families that have similar shapes, eg why is a Gold Triangle a Pyralid and yet Udea prunalis is a Crambid. I'm sure it makes sense genetically ....

Life in the garden - bits n bobs

A couple of shots I forgot/failed/declined to post earlier. Mother of Pearl nectaring on the buddleia after dark (02/08/09). Anything that attracts butterflies and bees by day is likely to attract moths at night - always worth checking scented flowering plants with a torch after dark. Gatekeeper - I reckon it is getting on for 10 years since I last had one in the garden, so I was pleased to find this late in the afternoon after getting home from work (03/08/09).