Friday, June 26, 2009

More Hornet Moths

I've been checking these poplars near Hampton for several seasons without any luck but knew they must be there as the trees are riddled with holes to the point where several have fallen over. Struck lucky this morning with two scampering up one trunk. I think it was a male and female, the one photographed being the male with more pectinate antennae and a bushy rear end. See here for some excellent, instructive pictures of a pair 'in action'.

This adds another square to the VC31 map for this species.

Hornet Moth Sesia apiformis, male






The result of years of work by some moth larvae!

4 comments:

Bennyboymothman said...

Hi Brian

What time of morning was this?

I've located Black Poplar near me you see.

Brian said...

About 08:20. I had been searching trees at this site and others from about 07:15.

Bennyboymothman said...

Thanks Brian, I shall be looking tomorrow from 7am, I need some luck with the weather!

Jay said...

Wow, what a stunning creature! I've never seen one. Great photos, too!

I found your blog while trying to identify a striped insect with clear wings which was clearly NOT a wasp or a hornet, but I couldn't decide if it was a fly or a moth. I've now discovered that it was a wasp moth. I'm guessing your hornet moth is bigger.