Subject: Large moth/insect sighted
Geographic location of the bug: United Kingdom, England, Birmingham
Date: 07/16/2018
Time: 07:34 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: Hi there, I spotted this insect in a block of flats on the wall. I have searched allover the Internet and i can not identify this type of moth/butterfly/insect species.
Flabbergasted.
How you want your letter signed: S. JARVIS
Dear S. JARVIS,
This is a Poplar Hawkmoth, Laothoe populi, and according to UK Moths: “Probably the commonest of our hawk-moths, it has a strange attitude when at rest, with the hindwings held forward of the forewings, and the abdomen curved upwards at the rear. If disturbed it can flash the hindwings, which have a contrasting rufous patch, normally hidden. Distributed commonly throughout most of Britain, the adults are on the wing from May to July, when it is a frequent visitor to light.”