Thirsty....

Thank goodness for the moth trap! Another blipless day, thanks to a succession of phone calls, work and meetings. Tonight I cut it even finer, and still had nothing at 10pm! Thank goodness for the moth trap which can usually be relied upon to provide something of interest.

Tonight's moth is a Brindled Green Dryobotodes eremita, a fairly common, but very attractive, early autumn moth of woodland and parkland, where the larvae feed on oak. It's one of the few species of moth to have truly green scales, though over time this colour tends to fade.

This one wasn't very co-operative, until we realised it was hungry and thirsty. Pete made up a solution of sugar water and dropped it on a leaf, and the moth rapidly settled down for a long bout of refreshment.

You can quite clearly see the moth's proboscis, which isn't particularly long in this species. It consists of two tubes held together by hooks and separable for cleaning and contains muscles for operating. Each tube is inwardly concave, thus forming a central tube up which moisture is sucked. Suction takes place due to the contraction and expansion of a sac in the head.