The Alsophila aceraria is a severely endangered moth. WUR student Maegen Hanekom identified several last week.
This is not the first “discovery” in the national park. After the return of the wolf, the Eurasian hoopoe was also sighted this year. This species was thought never to return to the Netherlands a few years ago.
National Park De Hoge Veluwe has been studying butterflies and moths in close collaboration with De Vlinderstichting (the butterfly foundation) for a few years. WUR student Maegen Hanekom is doing her internship at the Vlinderstichting and uses light traps for her research in the park. In one such trap, she found several Alsophila acerarias last week. This species has been sighted in our country eighteen times this year. ‘This is something I haven’t seen before, is what I thought when I saw the moths’, says Hanekom. ‘I looked it up and sent a photograph to my supervisor at the Vlinderstichting. He confirmed that it is a rare species.’
Happy coincidence
Hanekom found the moth during a study to investigate to what extent moths are attracted to light. Research supervisor Jurriën van Deijk, who is also the Vlinderstichting’s moth project leader: ‘Her trapping this moth is a coincidence, but a happy one. Despite having worked for the Vlinderstichting for over a decade, I have never seen one myself. Her discovery is deserved; she worked hard for it.’
The fact that Hanekom found six of these moths in a single week during her experiment leads Van Deijk to suspect a larger population of the moths is inhabiting the Veluwe. ‘This moth used to inhabit different regions in the Netherlands, but there are currently only two known populations, one near Ede and one around Hilversum and Bussem. The species is seriously endangered.’
The moth’s camouflage helps it survive. Van Deijk: ‘Blending in is essential to its survival. They fly at night but must survive during the daytime. What better way to do so than to take on the colours of a brown autumn leaf?’
The females have no wings. They conserve the energy they would otherwise spend on flying to reproduce and lay eggs. The males, who do have wings, are between 13 and 19 mm in length.
Source: De Gelderlander/Jaap Rademaker, Remco Regterschot