Not a Drinker

The other day I found what I first thought was a Drinker in the bank. That's a type of moth, not an alcoholic. It turns out it wasn't a drinker, but a Plum Lappet Moth, Odonestis pruni.

This is the Plum Lappet in the bank.

I photographed it then helped it outside.

The wing colour ranges between yellow and orange, with reddish and brownish markings. On each forewing, there is a distinct white dot in the centre, near which lie two darker bands. It's considered a bit of a pest, due to the larvae's consumption of various crops. In french it's known as La Feuille-morte du prunier.

Whereas....

The Drinker Euthrix potatoria (Fr. la Buveuse) is a nocturnal moth in the fabulously teddy bearish and furry Eggar moth family Lasiocampidae.

This male Drinker is from my archive, photographed in Essex in 2002, in our garden.

The curious name, the same in French and English, comes from the caterpillar's reputation for sipping the morning dew off leaves.

 

Male Drinker on Simon's hand, from my archive.

The species is present in the whole of Europe and as far as Japan. In France it can be seen everywhere except some of the Mediterranean habitats. The adults are in flight from June to August. Eggs are laid on the host grass species and the caterpillars emerge, grow a bit, then overwinter. They finish their growth in the spring then spin a yellow coccoon attached to a grass stalk.

 From the archives.

They like damp grassland and forests, heaths, woodland clearings and roadsides. The caterpillars eat sedges Carex sp and grasses such as Cock's-foot Dactyla glomerata, Couch grass Elymus repens and Barren Brome Bromus sterilus.

You can see why I was confused.