ID pointers: Common Rustic and Lesser Common Rustic are almost identical in appearance and can only be reliably separated by Gen Det examination. Undetermined specimens should be recorded as Common Rustic agg. For full details see the species page The photograph shown on this page goes to show how tricky the Common Rustic can be to identify. First thought to be Common Rustic, John thought it might be a Crescent. I replied to his post thinking the same, that it might be a crescent as the shape didn’t seem quite right for Common Rustic.Two well respected recorders replied with the following comments [“Sorry – this is a Common Rustic agg. for me. The reniform stigma is not quite the right shape and wing-length looks too short for Crescent (appreciate that is subjective from this photo alone). Meant to add that female Common Rustic agg. can look a little longer-winged than males” and second comment] [“I agree that the reniform stigma doesn’t look either the right shape or bright enough for a Crescent, and from such a poor photo I’d be reluctant to call it anything but a Common Rustic agg. Even in the plain form of Crescent the kidney is very bright, and not just a ring as in this moth.”]
This is a good educational moth and goes to show 1) how difficult it can be to ID from worn specimens and 2) from a poor quality image.