Friday 15 May 2015

Depressaria ultimella

Some of you might remember Howard posted a query about a mystery Depressaria recently, and in the comments I mentioned I'd trapped a specimen of this genus at Lanlay meadows in September 2014 which looked good for ultimella, but that I hadn't yet got around to dissecting it to confirm. Well, I've now dissected it and it is indeed ultimella (a female) - the first confirmed county record. There are two unconfirmed records from Gower, but Dave requested dissection to confirm its presence in the county.
Depressaria ultimella

It's not the best photo but the pale streaks in the disc are obvious, and it is a bit smaller than daucella. The larvae feed on Fool's Water-cress, which is almost certainly present at Lanlay Meadows, though I didn't specifically look for it.

The date was 20th September and the catch was otherwise extremely poor, with only 6 species in total, so I'm glad there was something to make the trip worthwhile.

George

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