You gotta check this out ppl. I found this near ramla bay area. (NOT ON SAND DUNES EE!!). This insect has wings resembling twigs and it has excellent camouflage with some dry stalk.
What is this insect? Perhaps it's the plume moth (emmelina monodactyla??) Please contribute to this one. Thanks guys!
WOOOWW!!
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Conchiolin
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WOOOWW!!
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- Here the moth is exposed but imagine it on a dry stalk!
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no man needs a holiday as much as the man who just had one.
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Conchiolin
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Moths id
Hi,
With regards to the first photo (the plume moth), it is an insect that belongs to the Agdistis genus. Definitely it is not an Emmelina monodactlya because when the latter species is at rest, it wings are not held upwards but horizontally in the form of a T.
If you found the moth between mid June and August I would bet to be an Agdistis tamaricis (Zeller, 1847). The larvae of this small moth are green with some brown pointed humps and are commonly found on Tamarix gallica.
Attached you can see a photo of its larvae, taken last week at Marsascala. Sorry for the quality of the foto but I don't afford a macro lens for my SLR yet.
It is the most common of the Agdistis sp.
The second moth is the Pyraloidea Achyra nudalis, a very common and very variable Mediterranean species. Sometimes the 5 black dots on its forewings are highly visible whilst in other cases, not all the spots are visible (sometimes even due to wear and tear). The larvae feeds on the plants of Amaranthus and beetroot leaves.
Jonathan
With regards to the first photo (the plume moth), it is an insect that belongs to the Agdistis genus. Definitely it is not an Emmelina monodactlya because when the latter species is at rest, it wings are not held upwards but horizontally in the form of a T.
If you found the moth between mid June and August I would bet to be an Agdistis tamaricis (Zeller, 1847). The larvae of this small moth are green with some brown pointed humps and are commonly found on Tamarix gallica.
Attached you can see a photo of its larvae, taken last week at Marsascala. Sorry for the quality of the foto but I don't afford a macro lens for my SLR yet.
It is the most common of the Agdistis sp.
The second moth is the Pyraloidea Achyra nudalis, a very common and very variable Mediterranean species. Sometimes the 5 black dots on its forewings are highly visible whilst in other cases, not all the spots are visible (sometimes even due to wear and tear). The larvae feeds on the plants of Amaranthus and beetroot leaves.
Jonathan
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- Plume moth larvae.jpg
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Well camouflaged as Tamarix. Hard to be observed from a distance.
PS: resize pics to a max of 940pix wide in future posts so that they are displayed directly on the forum, else they come up as a download link.
http://maltawildplants.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=60
PS: resize pics to a max of 940pix wide in future posts so that they are displayed directly on the forum, else they come up as a download link.
http://maltawildplants.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=60
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Conchiolin
- Veteran member
- Posts: 222
- Joined: Sat Mar 10, 2007 9:20 am
- Location: Malta