Identification

Identification

Busy in the front garden the other day, we came across a shy little beastie. It wasn’t easy to capture a photograph, as it was intent on getting away to shelter as quickly as possible. It seemed not to like the light, or to be able or willing to take flight.

We think it was associated with the hazel tree, as we found it under the pruned branches and leaves we were picking up to put in the green waste bin.

We assumed it was a moth, but it has proved impossible to identify. I’ve used all sorts of online keys, and a naturalist’s app on my iPhone. It has long antennae and striped legs, but strangely abbreviated wings, or perhaps it’s an unnaturally elongated body.

So far, it has identified as a Vapourer, a female Winter moth, or a Yellow Underwings. Of those three, I’m most inclined to see it as a Vapourer, or Rusty Tussock (Orygia antiqua) female. I’m happy to be proved wrong, though.

I wrote about the Vapourer here in 2019.

It’s called the Vapourer, because newly-emerged females emit  pheromones or ‘vapours’ to attract males to mate. The females then lay eggs on the cocoons from which they have hatched and die shortly afterwards. It’s not a very fulfilling life, really.