Bug and moth help appreciated

[zigzag_wanderer]

Hi,

Saw this bug on a hedgerow at work on Thursday this week. It was fairly distinctive with its white and grey colours, but I'm finding it hard to track down what it might be. The overall impression was of a very light-coloured insect (probably more so than indicated by the photo which was taken in partial shade).

The moth is a snap I've just discovered looking through old pics (it was raining heavily here earlier today !). Taken 25th May 2020 on the lower slopes of Wolstonbury Hill on the South Downs. It should be reasonably easy to home in on via the ID sites with its distinctive four white spots but again I'm struggling to find it through searches of moth families.

So any help on either gratefully received as always.

Ta muchly.

[Padfield]

I think your bug is a hemipteran in the family Miridae. I'm not at all an expert, but try something like:

https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteropt ... gicus.html

There are also similar species in the genus Adelphocoris (also Miridae):

https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteropt ... latus.html

Guy

[Allan.W.]

Hello Zig-zag ,
Looking through a micro moth field guide (Sterling ,Parsons and Lewington ) ,i,m assuming it is a "micro " ,the fact that it appears smaller than the Speedwell flower its sitting on ,points that way . I can,t see anything remotely like it . See if anyone else comes up with anything ,and if not perhaps send the image to the Sussex moth recorder ,and see what he comes up with.
Regards Allan.W.

[Neil Freeman]

I think your moth might be Cauchas fibulella . The spots on this species can be variable and the foodplant is Speedwell.

Cheers,

Neil

[zigzag_wanderer]

I think your bug is a hemipteran in the family Miridae. I'm not at all an expert, but try something like:

https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteropt ... gicus.html

There are also similar species in the genus Adelphocoris (also Miridae):

https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteropt ... latus.html

Guy

Thanks a lot Guy,

I think that's a very decent call. I did scan through the British Bugs site (which is extremely useful) initially looking for anything similarly shaped and with a whitish background colour. The two spots on the pronotum were then going to be a secondary ID feature.

Looking at http://www.ukwildlife.net/heteroptera/m ... gicus.html it does say:

"Early instars tend to appear uniformly green but after the final metamorphic moult the adult insect emerges quite pale and will take some days to develop mature colouration."

So I wonder if that's what I was seeing ? The overall impression was definitely of a white/off-white rather than green insect. The elytra looked very grey too making it stand out (in my head at least) from the mainly green, brown or black bugs that I'm used to seeing (if not identifying )

I do think Closterotomus norwegicus looks a very good shout in all other respects and we all know that light (and shade) can play tricks on us in terms of perceived colours.

Interestingly chrysanthemums are mentioned as a food plant. We've been potting a load of those recently !

Thanks again - I reckon you've named it !

[zigzag_wanderer]

I think your moth might be Cauchas fibulella . The spots on this species can be variable and the foodplant is Speedwell.

Cheers,

Neil

Thanks Neil (and Allan),

As with the beetle, I had a scan through some sites (including UKmoths) looking for black micro moths with four white spots but didn't get lucky.

Looking at the images on:

https://www.norfolkmoths.co.uk/micros.php?bf=1530

Then I can definitely see a) Very similar poses and wing-shape, b) Some with four spots and c) A lot of speedwell !

So all I can say is a big thanks for pointing to what must be the moth in question I'm sure.

Top stuff

ZZW (another Neil btw).