Winter white in the heat of summer (From Durham Times)

Winter white in the heat of summer

3:46pm Friday 16th July 2010

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ERMINE is the name given to the white winter coat of the stoat, so it is not something that you would expect to see in summer. However, there is also ermine to be found in the insect world, and summer is the time of year when the insect version of ermine becomes most obvious.

The ermine in question is the ermine moth, or moths, as there are hundreds of species of ermine moth found across the world, with several representatives in the UK.

The caterpillars of ermine moths rather than the adults are what become obvious at this time of year as they can, from time to time, occur in great profusion, stripping the leaves from their host food plant and cocooning themselves in an extravagant and highly visible silk web.

The different species of adult ermine moth can be difficult to differentiate as they have the same basic colour pattern of white wings and body with scattered dark spots.

Funnily enough, this is not dissimilar to the stoat’s winter coat. The larval food plant for the eight species currently known in the UK is often very specific, so the presence of the caterpillars on a particular plant species is a good indication of precisely which ermine moth is at work.

There is a species that favours bird cherry, one that likes blackthorn, hawthorn or plums and one that is exclusive to spindle. The spindle ermine, Yponomeuta cagnagella, may have recently been discovered in the county for the first time and the report is currently under investigation.

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