Old Ladies in UK outhouse

[Martin Honey]

Just to report an observation made over the weekend that might be of
interest, especially in view of the apparent scarcity of this species in
parts of Europe.
 
On Sunday, in south west London, the start of our annual invasion of Old
Ladies, Mormo maura (Linnaeus, 1758) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), took place.
I was in what is essentially an open fronted shed on a plot of land next to
a railway line when several of these large brown moths flew in and settled
on the roof joists. By mid afternoon, there were at least 37 present. They
rest in groups arranged like tiles on a roof. The largest group was of 10
individuals but I saw one group of 16 last year. They should stay there for
a few weeks at least but I'll try to keep an eye on them and make a note of
when they actually disappear.
 
Martin
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Martin R. Honey CBiol MIBiol, Lead Curator (Moths)
Collections Management Division, Department of Entomology
The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road
London, SW7 5BD, Great Britain
EMAIL:     M.Honey at nhm.ac.uk
 
All Museum telephone numbers changed on 5 July 1999, my new
numbers will be:
TELEPHONE: 020 7942 5604     International: 44 20 7942 5604
FAX:       020 7942 5229     International: 44 20 7942 5229
 
Until 22 April 2000, if dialling from within Central London,
only dial the last seven digits
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