I ran my usual garden light trap overnight on 27th August 2024 in Melbourne, South Derbyshire. Whilst processing the trap on the morning of 28th August I discovered an unfamiliar Olethreutinae species. I managed to pot it and put it to one side for viewing later. I had a second Olethruetinae species, this time one that I had seen before, but couldn’t put a name to it. So this was also potted and put to one side. These two moths were the last ones to be processed. I then spent the next three hours trying to ID both of them., in the end I gave up. One I thought was Large Marble (Phiaris schulziana) but the patterning didn’t look right despite my moth having a very distinctive white spot about two thirds in the centre of the forewing. I even looked at False Codling Moth, but when I discovered it was an Afrotropical species, often being occasionally imported as a larva in oranges and other fruits and seeds, I decided this was too far fetched.
I consulted with one of the members of our records team and good friend Will Soar. He very quickly identified one of the moths as Eudemis profundana, but was very intrigued by the second, saying that the moth was something far more interesting. A False Codling Moth, Thaumatotibia leucotreta. After checking photos on Lepiforum.org, it was a perfect match. A first record of the species for VC57 and for Derbyshire. This was the third that Will has identified in Britain, one in Norfolk and Essex and now this one.
