Moth Mondays - The Buff-tip

MOTH MONDAYS

The Buff-tip

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Lepidoptera

Superfamily: Noctuoidea

Family: Notodontidae
Genus: Phalera
Species: P. bucephala
Binomial name
Phalera bucephala

This week's moth is one of my favourites... it is also one of the creatures that sparked my interest in the natural world... it is the Buff-tip [Phalera bucephela] la Lunule or la Bucéphale.

Again, it is a very attractive moth... all silvery and woody... at rest it looks like a twig...
more specifically, a dead twig of Silver Birch (Betula pendula) Le Bouleau... or even a Poplar twig...

Posing on a length of dead Alder

The moth itself is an overall shade of Silver Birch... except for the broken ends...which resemble the dead heartwood of the twig... a pale straw colour at the exaggeratedly flat front end....and the same colour at the tip of the forewings... which has even evolved a "hint of woodgrain"!
The moth is one that is always exceedingly easy to handle... it "knows" that it is a bit of dead twig and behaves as such...

Viewed from the front... on my fingertip!!

The metallic silver/gunmetal wing scales also seem larger than the average scale... 
fused scales?.....

These are the silver wing scales on the moth on the twig...

...and these are at the wing-tip!

the gunmetal colour is more pronounced towards the forewing edge... that gives a rounded, shadow effect on the "underside" of the twig... and, most of the time it rests with the wings tightly held against the body...

The wings roll under....

And as viewed from above!

the flight period is mid-May through to the end of July.

This was a darker individual caught this year....
notice the distinct wavy stripes on the paler grey area.
This shot does show the gradation from silver to gunmetal as almost a line of change!

The caterpillars are longitudinally striped in black, yellow and white and slightly hairy... the back-end looks a bit like the front of a Eurostar train... the rounded head is black with a bright-yellow, inverted V-shaped marking... and they feed together [gregarious feeders] often stripping whole branches... one of the favourite foodplants, next to silver birch, is the Hazel... and it is here that the caterpillars are most often seen at eye-level as here, on our hazels....

The newly hatched caterpillars are quite interesting... and possibly even cute... as seen here on the Leps.it site, feeding side by side.

These are larger larvae on our hazels....

Eurostar? Perhaps not....

Gregarious feeding...

Another nut-nibbler in action!

This picture shows the inverted V on the head.

Sometimes though... the camoflage doesn't work so well...

This is on a bramble leaf... a particularly dark specimen....
and this...

...is one that settled... in this spread-out fashion on our front door.
In both the above cases thay are rather obvious!

Next Monday... a short break from moths.... I have decided to attempt to incorporate my blog about our meadow in with this blog... the reason for this is to try and simplify life a little... and possibly be more productive on information about Le Pré de La Forge and what we are doing with it....

NB: The information from the other sources is now placed at the bottom of the post.

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Sources

Other than Wikipedia.... and personal observations!
Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa [ also known as Leps.it]
A superbly illustrated site.... marvellous on the Micromoths...
but difficult to use on a tablet/iPad.... an awful lot of scrolling needed.

Lepidoptera.eu   An excellent resource... with distribution maps

UK Moths This is quite a simple site... but nicely put together.

The German site Lepiforum.de - For really good samples of photos...
including museum specimens: to use....
Enter the Latin name and then select the Latin name from the list of pages found.
There is probably a lot more on this site... but I don't read [or speak] German!!

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From the Wiki:

Buff-tip

The Buff-tip (Phalera bucephala) is a moth of the family Notodontidae.
It is found throughout Europe, Mongolia.

This is a fairly large, heavy-bodied species with a wingspan of 55–68 mm. The forewings are grey with a large prominent buff patch at the apex. As the thoracic hair is also buff, the moth resembles a broken twig when at rest. The hindwings are creamy-white. This moth flies at night in June and July and sometimes comes to light, although it is not generally strongly attracted.

The young larvae are gregarious, becoming solitary later. The older larva is very striking, black with white and yellow lines. It feeds on many trees and shrubs (see list below). The species overwinters as a pupa.

Recorded food plants:

    Acer - Norway maple
    Betula - Birch
    Corylus - Hazel
    Laburnum
    Populus - Poplar
    Prunus
    Quercus - Oak
    Robinia
    Rosa - Rose
    Salix - Willow
    Tilia - Lime
    Ulmus - Elm
    Viburnum

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From UK Moths

Buff-tip Phalera bucephala
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Wingspan 42-55 mm.

When at rest, the adults of this species bear a remarkable resemblance to a broken twig of silver birch.

The species is widely distributed throughout Britain, and quite common, especially in the southern half.

The yellow-and-black caterpillars live gregariously and feed on a number of different deciduous trees, sometimes defoliating entire branches.

The adults fly in June and July, frequenting mixed woodland.

Something is nibbling my nuts!

Well, not the nuts, but the leaves of one of the hazels...
they are caterpillars of the Buff-tip moth [Phalera bucephala] la Bucéphale...
and they were decimating the leaves of one filbert.
just the one, mind... the greenest leaved one!!

Just a few here....

Pauline spotted them as she harvested the nuts... they were quite visible...
these yellow-and-black striped, silver haired caterpillars live gregariously...
and feed on a number of different deciduous trees*...
sometimes, as on our hazel, defoliating entire branches.
"Wiki" seems to think that it is only gregarious when young...
but these were large caterpillars... around two and a half inches long and a quarter of an inch thick.
I knocked the branches they were on and collected them in a plastic box...
and then 'broadcast' them at the "hazel beyond the brambles"....

at the bottom corner of the verger...
[the one we can't get at to pick]
They can decimate that to their hearts content...
but they can leave my nuts alone!!

Which end is which?

I knew the moth well, having seen it many times...
and have even seen it here...

Buff-tip...  or dead twig? [Click on this picture to enlarge it and see the real beauty of the scales.]

and as can be seen from the picture above it looks fairly like a broken bit of twig.

The buff ends look like rotten wood and the silver-grey between like a silvery bark...
all the books liken this to Silver Birch...
but around here, I would reckon this is better on dead Poplar....
in fact, a damn sight more successful...
Silver Birch branches up to about three-quarters of an inch diameter are usually a dull, mid-brown colour!
Dead Poplar branches become silvery-grey at quite small diameters.
As do those of Ash!!

Team strippers in action...

The adults fly June and July...
and their caterpillars can be found between July and October on....
*and this is based on the "Wiki" list...

Norway Maple... down by the river
Field Maple... everywhere
Birch... we've planted some
Hazel... yes, well!!
Laburnum... not around here... not ever!
Lime... in the front garden
Poplar sp... just a few... thousand
Prunus sp... mainly Blackthorn... then there are our plums, etc.
Oak... yes, plenty...
Robinia... NO! Never...
Rose... plenty
Willow... eighteen species here...
Elm... mostly Wych Elm in the hedges
Viburnum... we've planted V.opulus for the birds [and Autumn colour]

so there's plenty of other plants for Buffy to eat!!

Most sources give the wingspan as 42-56 mm [except "Wiki"... 55 to 68mm?]
and the caterpillar 65-75mm [2.5 to 3 inches]

The tail-end view of a bunch... the middle one is wearing a bandit mask... and well it should!!

The Wildlife Trusts gives the following information...

"The Buff-tip is a medium-sized moth that is on the wing at night from June to July.
It is quite a common moth in parks and gardens, as well as woodland edges, scrub and hedgerows.
The caterpillars are striking: large, hairy and yellow, with a black head and a ring of short black stripes on every segment.
They often gather together in large numbers, eating the leaves of Lime, Birch, Hazel and Willow trees, sometimes defoliating whole branches, but rarely causing serious damage.
This moth pupates on the ground and overwinters as a chrysalis."

The Forestry Commission points out that..

"although they occur rather later in the summer than oak processionary moth larvae...
from a distance they can resemble this species when their abundant fine grey hairs (setae) catch the light. However, on closer inspection they are easily identified by their distinctly patterned yellow and black body with grey and yellow stripes."

Eurostar design concept?... they were certainly speed eating!

From the Saga website...
{not one of my normal haunts, but was linked to from elsewhere...}
so I followed where no self respecting over-50s would wish to tread...
there one David Chapman introduces a master of disguise...

"Moths tend to be active by night, a strategy which offers them safety from the majority of predators, with the exception of bats. However this approach does present them with a problem: what to do to remain safe during the day!

The answer is that moths hide away in all sorts of nooks and crannies and dark places where they might be safe from predatory birds and mammals. To help them remain hidden most moths are drably coloured, and this is sufficient for them to avoid being spotted but some have a much more precise camouflage.

The buff-tip moth has one of the most amazing camouflage patterns and even its shape has evolved to help it blend in with its chosen surroundings. When a Buff-tip moth rests amongst broken twigs on the woodland floor, or amongst branches on a tree, it almost disappears from sight.

Buff-tip moths can be found in gardens and woodland, their flight season is mostly June and July. Having spent the winter as a chrysalis underground the adult moth takes to the wing and the females soon lay a large batch of eggs. Their larvae hatch out en masse, eating the leaves of various trees including sallows, birch, oak and hazel, and for a while, stick together making them a good deal more obvious than their parents! Once they have the strength, they spread out before pupating underground in the autumn and so the life-cycle begins again."

More from "Wiki"...

"The Buff-tip (Phalera bucephala) is a moth of the family Notodontidae. It is found throughout Europe.

This is a fairly large, heavy bodied species with a wingspan of 55–68 mm. The forewings are grey with a large prominent buff patch at the apex. As the thoracic hair is also buff, the moth looks remarkably like a broken twig when at rest. The hindwings are creamy-white. This moth flies at night in June and July and sometimes comes to light, although it is not generally strongly attracted."

Ready for transportation to the colonies...