Emperor
Moth Saturnia pavonia (Linnaeus,
1758)  |
Status
.....A moth with perhaps an unexpected distribution in
Nottinghamshire, with the vast majority of the
county's recent records coming from sites along the Trent Valley
such as Netherfield, Attenborough, Gunthorpe, Besthorpe,
Cotham, Spalford Warren. It is clearly on the increase in
Nottinghamshire, even allowing for the increasing use of artificial
pheremone lures by a seemingly growing number of recorders.
And
yet, until 2023, it
still remained just a historically occurring moth across the Sherwood
Forest area. However, recent records in April 2023 and 2024, of males
attracted to pheremone
lures at Sherwood Forest Centre Parcs (Hill,
M.) a Clipstone garden
(Clarke, K.), the former Crown Farm Colliery
(Hurst, I.) and Rufford Colliery
(Penson, M.) suugest that recolonisation of Sherwood Forest's heathland sites
has occurred. |
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| Captive bred
female, photographed April 2018 |
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| Emperor Moth male. |
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Early stages |
| Early
instar larva on Bramble. Photographed at Gunthorpe GP May 2022. |
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Early instar larva on Bramble. Photographed
at Gunthorpe GP June 2022. |
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Mid-instar larva. Photographed at Gunthorpe
GP June 2022. |
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Larva. Photographed at Gunthorpe
GP June 2022. |
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Near full-grown larva. Photographed at Gunthorpe
GP July 2022. |
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Full-grown larva. Photographed at Gunthorpe
GP July 2022. |
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| Cocoon
on Heather Calluna vulgaris. Photographed February 2022. |
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