A prominent morning

The numbers of moths in the trap this morning was not great, but a couple of new Prominents caused some excitement. The first was the remarkably-shaped Pale Prominent:

We struggled to make sense of the strange structure on the head of this moth. However, as it warmed up and became more active, more features became visible:

The tall structure between the eyes, that looks almost like a frontal shield, is in fact a pair of vertical labial palps. Pale Prominent moths have distinctively shaped labial palps. They are found either side of the probiscus and together with the much smaller maxillary palps appear to have a role in scent, especially sugar, detection. Below is a graphic showing the more traditional arrangement of palpi (© https://www.britannica.com/animal/lepidopteran/Form-and-function):

Even better was our first Swallow Prominent, a good-sized, beautifully marked moth: 

Lesser Swallow Prominent is a confusion species, but the narrow white wedges (indicated by the arrow) look good for Swallow Prominent to me, although as always with moths, I am happy to be corrected. This is the 120th species of moth we have identified in the last 11 months in our small Headington garden, with the number of new species arriving showing no sign of abating! 

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