May 27, 2024
Bug of the Day
Really thought this was going to turn out to be something special, but was a blah little diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella). Well, at least it's cute!
seen from Spain
seen from China
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from Brazil
seen from Netherlands
seen from Singapore
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from Canada
seen from Türkiye
seen from Singapore
seen from Malaysia
seen from Yemen
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Czechia
seen from United States
seen from Sweden
seen from Brunei
Bug of the Day
Really thought this was going to turn out to be something special, but was a blah little diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella). Well, at least it's cute!
#2599 - Protosynaema eratopis
A VERY rarely recorded moth - the tiny handful of other sightings and collections are all from Arthur's Pass. It happened to be hiding behind a bluebell as I was trying to photograph a tiny Mirid bug.
First described by Edward Meyrick in 1885. One of the few images of the moth online is this illustration from George Hudson's The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand (1927).
The eyespots and diagonal stripes strongly suggest to me that this is a jumping spider mimic - a tactic used by a startling number of unrelated moths, flies and caddisflies.
Petrophila sp. Moth (Crambidae) - photo by Nicky Bay
Here's a selection of more just from the Nearctic. And a paper where neural networks trained on jumping spiders mistook the moths for same.
It's a pretty effective way to discourage attacks from real jumping spiders, given how frequently they'll cannibalise each other. And if the spider attacks anyway, the moth can fly off in an unexpected direction.
Arthur's Pass, Aotearoa New Zealand
@tomboyfromhell submitted: Any way you could ID this one? I’m in Southern California
I sure can! It’s a diamondback moth :)
It has been the year of the Micro Moth for my yard in 2017.
Hybroma servulella / Yellow Wave Moth (0300)
Plutella xylostella / Diamondback Moth (2366)
Bug of the Day
I was very excited to find this diamondback-like moth that I was sure was going to be a related species, but no, it turned out to just be the same old diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella). Still tiny and cute tho.
This tiny guy is Plutella xylostella. These things have a wing length of 7mm and feed on brassicas as larvae. The surprising thing about this one is that it has flown across the sea from Spain to appear in my garden in southern England. An impressive feat for any creature, especially one so small.
#2359 - Charixena iridoxa - Astelia Zig-zag Moth
Post about the host plant coming up later.
AKA Philpottia iridoxa. I suspect the generic name had already been applied to beetles I've mentioned before, so they had to change it.
Fast day-flying Plutellid moths with caterpillars that inhabit the bulb and leaves of Astelia sp.
Whakapapa Village, North Island Volcanic Plateau, New Zealand
Bug of Day
Dare I say this diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella), from this year’s Franklin Park Zoo Bug BioBlitz, is sassy? Mr. Sassypants Moth...