Friday 27 May 2022

Corfu Moths

Cream-spot Tiger, Arctia villica

I visited Corfu in May for my third butterfly spotting trip with Dan Danahar's group. Dan initiated Corfu Butterfly Conservation a few years ago and plans to publish an atlas of Corfu Butterflies after 5 years of contributions by Corfiats and interested expats and visitors. A wonderful example of Citizen Science.

I have a particular interest in moths and photographed them in the field and at the lights around Hotel Apollon, Paleokastritsa where we stayed. Some moths were extremely difficult to identify as there are no formal guides to the moths of Corfu, so I decided to initiate one. This year's moths and those from the past 2 trips gave me enough to produce a Corfu Moth Identification with over 50 species. A Corfu resident, Peter Hardiman, backed the project and offered his photos to increase the usefulness of the guide. The latest edition can be downloaded here: Corfu Moth Identification Guide. This will be updated as others contribute new species.

Some of the moths I have photographed in Corfu:

Cream-spot Tiger, Arctia villica

Blair's Mocha, Cyclophora puppillaria

unidentified moth

Blair's Mocha, Cyclophora puppillaria

Grass Moth, Chrysocrambus craterella

Grass Moth, Chrysocrambus craterella

Omphalophana anatolica

Orange Footman, Eilema sororcula

Phaiogramma etruscaria

Phtheochroa duponchelana

Shoulder-striped Clover, Heliothis maritima (similar to H.viripla) 

Small Twitcher, Prochoreutis myllerana


3 comments:

  1. Nice moths Colin.Hopefully you saw plenty of butterflies on your trip.

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    Replies
    1. Yes Peter, plenty of butterflies, I haven't got round to sorting out the photos yet!

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    2. Good,I look forward to seeing your sightings.I lost out on a holiday to Corfu over the pandemic.

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