Moth? I think, help identify please

[catlover]

My younger cat is tormenting me by bringing these into the house.
They look like moths, but appear to have legs, distinct bodies and 2 sets of wings(like dragonflies have 2 sets). They don't seem to be able to fly, hovering or hopping along the ground (grasshopper like?), but I'm not sure if that is because Chloe has injured them or if they can't fly. This one didn't survive long enough to even get away from where it got thrown from my catch them and try not to wake the neighbours by screaming equipment. (It has been in the sun/attacked by flies and ants all morning before I thought to take pictures though) thus I could get a bit closer to take pictures. Also while it is hovering its wings ( I think that is what it is) beat together and make a noise, but it doesn't sound like the crickets you hear abroad. Its only its head that is the darker red colour, its body is more yellowy with darker stripes and looks like it could be fuzzy. Its wings were more white/cream/mauve and solid looking when it was alive than they are in this picture and have gone clear and dessicated after its died.





There is a picture, but not very clear of it upside down and a blurry one of one alive the other day in the unidentified moths Gallery too.

Until this week when she started bringing these in I didn't realise moths came in any other varieties than the tiny white things that fly at the lights or that they had distinct bodies. These are giants in comparison, but are they moths?

Thanks

[Jenny W]

It is a moth, although I'm afraid I cannot even hazard a guess as to species from the photos as it's just too knackered! It looks to be one of the larger Noctuid species if I was going to say anything.

There are about 2500 species of moths in the UK. It's head is red and wings look like that because it has lost all it's scales, which give moths their colouration and patterning. The red you see is the insects exoskeleton.

[Jason Green]

Hi Catlover, welcome to WAB

I can't say which one of the UK's 2,400 (!) moth species it is, it's lost all the coloured scales that would identify it I'm afraid. Not too sure how much further you could go... please feel free to upload any other shots, and we'll see if we can get further

[catlover]

In that case I will fish out my proper camera and see if I can get a better picture of the next one she brings in before I trap it and dump it outside (doesn't help that if they are fluttering I'm screaming).

Thank you for confirming it is a moth though

[catlover]

The first two moths she bought in looked like these, but one was bigger. The other ones she has been catching are also bigger but one looked like it might have had the same colouring.

Still not a very good photo, it won't let me upload the other two which show the wings and colouring more clearly.




would the bigger ones that she is umm destroying more to get them inside be the same species? Please tell me moths have a season and will be gone in a few weeks

[nutmeg]

The latest one looks like one of the Yellow Underwings - possibly a Large Yellow Underwing.

[evilgrayson]

There are lots and lots of species of moths. Some species have 'seasons', some don't, and the seasons differ for almost year-round moth coverage (although this is a really busy time for moths, while in winter they tend to be a lot fewer).

Some are big, some are small - they're a lot like butterflies, though usually rather drabber and more boring to look at, and come in a huge variety of sizes, shapes and colours. They can be quite beautiful close up. Most only fly at night, given a choice, but make for light sources. They don't bite, they don't sting, they're almost entirely harmless, just a bit of a nuisance if you want to leave your windows open with the lights on or have a cat who's developed a taste for them.

As they're drawn to light, they can be an easy target for a cat. They'll sit on window glass trying to get closer to the lights, and they'll flutter round low-level garden lights. My cat only goes for the ones that successfully manage to irritate him by coming indoors and fluttering around him, but some cats think they're great to play with. If you have low-level garden lights, switching them off may stop your cat catching quite so many.

[catlover]

Well she has made me learn more about moths than i ever thought was possible

Thanks for the help and identifying the last one, I'm kinda interested now and ashamed that I really thought moths were just the little white ones.

I don't have any lights in the garden, I keep doors and windows closed at night to keep the moths out, Chloe cat has had the cat flap for almost two years and never brought any in before and has only chased the odd one that has come in when I opened the door or something. The last cople fo days I have noticed that she takes them to whatever room my other cat is in, so I wonder if the catching them is an attempt to feed Whitney cat who has lost a lot of weight in the last month or so. I wish they could talk. If she keeps it up I am going to have to get over the phobia of them.

Thanks again for all the help.

[evilgrayson]

If you're phobic, try this...

Leave a light on, the curtains open and the window closed. Ignore for half an hour, then see what you've got - the window keeps them out, and lets you observe them in absolute safety. When you're done, just switch the light off and they'll all go away (or get caught by bats or birds, in Wales we had a cheeky little bunch of tits that'd cling to the windowframes in order to get the moths who'd stayed until daylight, and bats who absolutely loved the impromptu feeding station).

Fluttering moths are a different kettle of fish - it's a different set of instincts - but knowing that they're harmless, baffled and completely lost is half the battle. I feel sorry for the ones that get indoors. Their navigation is stuffed with a lightbulb in the room, they're stuck in a place they really don't want to be and that big pink tree over there is moving...

Either way, a lot of them are truly beautiful when you get the chance to observe them rather than have them suddenly dropped on you.