three under-recorded tortricids

in the last few days, i've seen three of the (many) moths for which few previous ceredigion records exist. capua vulgana, epinotia fraternana and  pammene rhediella are almost certainly under-recorded, even by ceredigion standards, in part because they are less likely to turn up in light traps. they can be found by day in suitable habitat.

capua vulgana feeds on bilberry and rowan, among other plants. the one in the photo was seen flying over bilberry in the ystwyth valley in late afternoon. it's quite a plain moth - this one is a well-marked individual! the wing shape and the pale wedge at the base of the wing with a dark blotch beyond are useful pointers.

capua vulgana

the nationally scarce epinotia fraternana feeds on fir needles. i tapped two from the lower branches of some immature firs in the ystwyth valley - among mature firs, where most of the leaves are high up, it's probably difficult to find. the key feature is the orange-brown on the forewing with a well-defined narrow pale crossband from costa to dorsum, angling forwards. the somewhat similar epinotia tedella feeds on spruce, which, as plants go, is quite an easy one to check for in an area. most individuals can be distinguished by wing markings: e tedella has a darker brown forewing with additional pale markings.

epinotia fraternana

the fruitlet mining tortrix, pammene rhediella, is most commonly seen flying in sunshine around the tops of flowering hawthorn trees. tapping a couple of hawthorns on cors caron produced a crowd of them. it's not a great photo, but the dark forewing with a diagonally-edged orangish shape at the termen is distinctive.

pammene rhediella