In all the excitement of finding Nationally Scarce B moths on shed walls and making friends with clingy Poplar Hawk-moths I neglected to even give this next moth a mention. It is yet another first for me and relatively an interesting species.
It is known as the Large Tabby (aglossa cuprina oraglossa pinguinalis), though it isn’t particularly big and, as a member of the pyralid family, classed as a micro moth. It is a pest both in its larval form and as an adult. It typically lives in buildings. There it may infest grain, though it is more likely to live on hay and dung. It is reputed to run rather than fly if disturbed and I found one (dis)reputable source* suggesting that it is under consideration as a forensic marker – by those who use insects in the investigation of crime scenes involving a corpse. It used to be more widely known as the Grease Moth for its habit of sipping (actually sucking up) fat and it allegedly doesn’t mind if that fat comes from a decomposing body.
Improbable as it may have seemed at the start of this post I may have myself an mid-month front runner for the title of ‘Icky Thing of the Month’. Here it is:
Large Tabby (aglossa cuprina)
* these claims may in fact be nothing other than an entomology under-graduate’s joke.
