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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Early Pale Brindled Beauty (1 Viewer)

Pete Haynes

Pete Haynes

Pete H
Perfect conditions last night produced 50 moths of 14 species, including an early Pale Brindled Beauty, pictured. The December Moths were going berserk with two very large females and 13 males in the trap. Others caught were Yellow-line Quaker (9), Chestnut (5), Mottled Umber (4), Winter Moth (3), November Moth agg (3), Feathered Thorn (3), Scarce Umber (2), Red-green Carpet (1), Satellite (1), Sprawler (1), Acleris notana/ferrugana (1) and Acleris sparsana (1) + a couple of really worn out unidentifiable specimens.
 

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Oh to have a bit of woodland nearby :). Emmelina monodactyla is the only moth to visit my garden trap this week but I have seen The Sprawler and December Moth elsewhere in the village (at street and building lights).

Nice Pale Brindled Beauty. Look forward to pics of the female ;)
 
Even up here in North Wales I had 19 moths last night (only 5 species though) including a Pale Brindled Beauty, 14 December Moths, 2 Mottled Umbers, a Feathered Thorn and my first Winter Moth of the year. This is only the second time (in 20 years of trapping) that I have had Pale Brindled Beauty in November, normally don't get them till January/February.

Geoff
 
It must have thought that cold spell was the winter.
Earliest I've seen it is Jan 21st 2004, it was 8th Feb previous year.
 
Wonky thermometer

It must have something wrong with it's temoerature sensors because that night was probably the mildest night this November! The last two nights have also been very mild, with some rain towards dawn this morning here.
Catches were 22 (7 species) and 8! (5)! They must have tired themselves out on Tuesday night! A Rusty Dot Pearl was the most interesting moth around.
 
Is it the temperature on the night or the fact that there had been a cold snap? The emergence may have been triggered by the cold spell and the adult not arrived at your's immediately. Or the trigger may be the change in temperature. They may normally be "programmed" to emerge on the first milder night following a cold period near midwinter. Just conjecture, anyone have any hard facts.
 
brianhstone said:
Is it the temperature on the night or the fact that there had been a cold snap? The emergence may have been triggered by the cold spell and the adult not arrived at your's immediately. Or the trigger may be the change in temperature. They may normally be "programmed" to emerge on the first milder night following a cold period near midwinter. Just conjecture, anyone have any hard facts.
Click to expand...
I don't have any hard facts, but surely it's not unusual for a few individuals in a species to show abberrant behaviour. That's how they exploit new ecological niches. For example, the first blue tit to prang a milk-bottle top was behaving 'out of character' but because it was rewarded by some food the action became a survival-enhancing trait which was passed on to future generations (or copied by other individuals).
If the odd pbb hatches early and survives, it may have 'children' that do the same. Who knows, with global warming, it could be a smart move.
Ken
 
I totally agree with your evolutionary theory Ken. There will always be outliers in any population that occasionally benefit by chance and may survive to perpetuate certain traits. Presumably how some moths developed common melanistic forms in polluted areas over relatively few generations.

I was really theorising more generally about the triggers for events such as emergence of adult insects. How to PBB pupae "know" to emerge in January and February? Is it dependent on daylight, temperature or just the length of time as a pupa? If the latter then it would presumably depend on when the larva pupated and that might vary according to when eggs were laid and how much food was available (is this getting a bit chicken and egg here?).
 
brianhstone said:
The emergence may have been triggered by the cold spell and the adult not arrived at your's immediately.
Click to expand...
That is what I was suggesting.

It was the coldest night(the really cold one) of the year in Scotland and northern England. Don't know what it was like in southern parts.
 
Pale Brindled Beauty

I've had two more PBBs since the one that triggered this thread. They were all different moths as confirmed by photos of them all. We did have two very cold frosty nights on the 12/13 November. Since then it's been reasonably mild for the time of year. The three PBBs were caught on 23rd, 26th and 27th.
 
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