- Family: Crambidae, Subfamily: Pyraustinae; BF: 1361 & 1362
- Cambridge (garden) (left) P. aurata 26 May 2001
(right) P. purpuralis 22 Jul 2001
- Wingspan (resting): 12mm Length (head + body): 6mm
- Two daylight-flying moths which frequent the same area (herbs and soft fruit)
of the my garden. Larvae of both feed on mint (Mentha).
- I thought they might be the same species but I'm told otherwise. Chris Raper quotes this section from "British Pyralid Moths" by Barry Goater:
P.aurata "Distinguished from P.purpuralis ... and P.ostrinalis ... by
darker, duller forewing with single conspicuous gold spot, and
hindwing unmarked in basal half"
P.purpuralis & ostrinalis are more tricky: "... seen together,
P.ostrinalis has forewing distinctly narrower, dull reddish violet
rather than purple, and the markings straw yellow, less bright than in
P.purpuralis; on the underside, the pale subterminal line in
P.purpuralis is nearly straight and fades before the costa, whereas in
P.ostrinalis it curves to meet the postmedian line at the costa ..."
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