Notes and comments on some Suffolk moths in 1998

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NOTES AND COMMENTS ON SOME SUFFOLK MOTHS IN 1998 M. R. HALL A spell of unseasonally mild weather during early February raised hopes that perhaps 1998 would break the pattern of the last few seasons and prove to be "a good moth year". Unfortunately this was not to be and by the end of the year most recorders had reported a generally poorer year than of late. However, there were several highlights among which the re-discovery of the light orange underwing, Archiearis notha, and the record of the vine moth, Eupoecilia ambiguella, (a Notable/Nb species) new to Suffolk, are the most exciting. The real benefit of the warm weather in February was that those intrepid recorders who regularly venture out at this time of year were rewarded with pleasant conditions, that encouraged the less obvious early season moths to put in an appearance at their moth traps, rather than having tÜ endure almost freezing evenings in the usually forlorn hope of adding to our knowledge of the distribution of moths that are described as "common and widespread" and yet are but sparsely recorded in Suffolk. The small brindled beauty, Apocheima hispidaria, was recorded from the Ipswich Golf Club (SMG), Wolves Wood (TP) and Sicklesmere (SD); the spring usher, Agriopis leucophaearia, from Bromeswell Green (TP), Ipswich Golf Club (SMG), Minsmere (CA), and Wolves Wood (TP); and a little later in the year, in March, the lead-coloured drab, Orthosia populeti, at Eye (PK). Regulär day-time surveying by Neil Sherman showed the orange underwing, Archiearis parthenias, to be well distributed in suitable habitat throughout much of the county. It was on one of these trips, to Wolves Wood, that Neil re-discovered the light orange underwing, Archiearis notha. This is a moth that has not been recorded in Suffolk for many years. Indeed there are no specific site records since Morley (1937) and his comment is of a species "less common than parthenias and apparently confined to clay woods containing much sallow". This is a slightly enigmatic and intriguing Statement as the larvae of the light orange underwing feed on Aspen, Populus tremula, and no other pabulum is recorded in the literature. Neil retained a voucher specimen so that the record could be confirmed by the Suffolk Lepidoptera Panel. On the 20th May an unusual Tortricid was noted in the moth trap at Landguard (NO) and as the tentative identification, although seemingly positive, was very unlikely the specimen was retained and the identification subsequently confirmed by Dr. J. Langmaid. The moth is the vine moth, Eupoecilia ambiguella, which is regarded as local and scarce and had previously been known in England only from Essex and Kent to Dorset and from Llantrissant in Wales. This species, which is widespread in the temperate zones of the Palaearctic and Indo-oriental regions, is said to be found frequenting moist heaths and scrubland, limestone scrub and open woods where the preferred larval foodplant Alder Buckthorn, Frangula alnus, occurs. Although not regarded as a migrant it seems probable that this specimen wandered across the Orwell/Stour estuary even though it is not recorded in north east Essex (Goodey & Firmin, 1992). Two other species that in recent years have also been recorded in this part of Suffolk and were at the time new

Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 35

(1999)


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