2018 November 16

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I visited Goldstream Park Nature House this morning.  There were dozens of Winter Moths there, but as far as I could see they were all Operophtera brumata.  I didn’t see any that I thought were O. bruceata.  I wonder if they have a different flight period, because I know I have seen them there before.  The only other moths I saw there were a Triphosa haesitata (American Tissue Moth), which was too high up to photograph, and the moth below.  The question is:  What is it?  It is certainly Erannis sp., and it is not E. tiliaria.  Is it the European E. defoliaria (which I think it is!), or is it E. vancouverensis?   Are these two really distinct species?  If so, which is the one we get here?  Is there really such an animal as E. vancouverensis?  For safely, I’ll just label it Erannis sp.  (even though I think it’s defoliaria!).

 

Erannis sp.  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum