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The wedge shaped mark is long and narrow.
2. Swallow Prominent and Lesser Swallow Prominent
These two species do differ slightly
in average size and flying period but, in each case the overlap and so do not usually
help with identification.
They are most easily distinguished by the shape of a white mark in the trailing corner of the forewing.
Swallow Prominent
Lesser Swallow Prominent
The white wedge shaped mark is and short and wide.
4. Lunar Marbled Brown, Marbled Brown and Pale Tussock Moth
Marbled Brown is less
common in most areas and does not have the strong cross-
Lunar Marbled Brown
Marbled Brown
On Marbled Brown cross-
Lunar Marbled Brown has 3 wide cross-
Lunar Marbled Brown has a thin crescent mark in the central band of the forewing
Pale Tussock
Pale Tussock is very variable in colour and shading, but the wing patterns are fairly constant.
The forewing is divided into 3 wide cross-
The cross-
The outer one is
narrow and zig-
The central cross-
There is a clear line of black dots along the outside of the forewing -
Female Muslin Moth, Yellow-
3. White Macro moths other than Geometers and Noctuids
Crosslines are not straight and point away from the wing-
Body and head are plain and almost devoid of markings.
Two almost straight crosslines on each wing pointing to the wing-
Body and head have strong, clear pink markings.
Hawkmoths, white moths and others
Hawkmoths are brightly coloured and distinctly patterned but there are two species
which could be confused because of their very similar colour:-
Elephant Hawkmoth
Small Elephant Hawkmoth
Hawkmoths
1. Elephant Hawkmoth and Small Elephant Hawkmoth
These two species do differ in size
-
Yellow-
Both sexes have a rather humped look at the trailing corner.
The male usually has two black spots near the trailing corner of each forewing -
The female has no spots and does not have feathery antennae.
Female Muslin Moth -
Forewings are shorter and more rounded than in White Ermine.
The pattern of black spots on the forewing are in a consistent and easily recognisable pattern with fewer spots than in most White Ermine.
White Ermine
Buff Ermine
Buff Ermine is normally a clear buff colour but some are pale and may be white
It is distinguished from White Ermine by a clear cross-
The background of the forewing is white or sometimes light buff.
White Ermine usually has more black spots than Buff Ermine or Muslin Moth and more random in number and position.
Other white macro moths
There are other moths with white forewings
of this type and which are not included on this page :
a. Brown-
b. White Satin Moth which is similar
to Yellow-
c. Water Ermine which is similar to White
Ermine but scarce. (See Hantsmoths)
d. Four-
Flash picture of Yellow-
Dark Tussock
Pale Tussock may be confused with Dark Tussock which is less common and is not shown
here. Dark Tussock has bright orange markings along the main cross-
Marbled Brown has no crescent mark