RSPB Nature Tracker's Handbook by Nick Baker

Author:Nick Baker [Baker, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781472932563
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2015-08-09T21:00:00+00:00

Mighty moths

Moths may seem too delicate to take on the hard stuff, and their caterpillars seem hardly any better equipped for chewing through wood. Having said this, there is a handful of species that are wood-chomping specialists.

The clearwings mostly tackle woody plant stems, but the two largest members of this family have larvae which feed under the bark and into the wood of large trees, normally members of the willow family. Their emergence holes are around 10mm in diameter.

It is the Goat Moth that is a true wood turner. Its enormous caterpillars leave 20mm emergence holes – one of the largest insect emergence holes you are likely to see. They are often low down on mature trees, usually willows, poplars and oaks, and there may be several other signs present including the remains of the pupa case, which if fresh will be left sticking out of the hole, frass, coarse sawdust, the presence of silk and, in very fresh examples if you get down and give the hole a sniff, you might just get the whiff of billy goat and understand how this moth got its common name.

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