Firstly, how do you know that you have a moth at all - there are a few insects that could be confused with them! Moths, like butterflies, are members of the Lepidoptera, the majority of which are characterised by the possession of a coiled proboscis and a body covered in minute plate-like scales.
Many moths are day-flying and could be confused with butterflies. Butterflies have a clubbed antennae and moths have a varity of different shaped antennae but only the Burnets have one resembling a club.
The nearest insect group with which they could be confused are the Caddisflies. However, their bodies are covered in hairs and their antennae are always held out in front of them in a characteristic manner as in the photo on the left.
Historically the moths have been split, rather crudely, into two groups - the microlepidoptera (micros) and the macrolepidoptera (macros) - the latter also being known as the Larger Moths. Of the two groups the micros are by far the most numerous with many species being only a few millimetres in size. In contrast the macros are generally much larger and comprise those insects that people generally associate with the term "moth". Micros, because of their small size, lack of available illustrations and general difficulty in identification, have never been as popular with naturalists as have the macros. As to whether a moth belongs to one or the other group is an interesting question, for some micros are larger than some macros and vice versa. Suffice it to say that the macrolepidoptera or larger moths comprise all those species covered and illustrated by both Waring and Skinner.
 |
previous |  |
next |
