Moths of Keele University
Background Information
Butterflies and moths belong to the Lepidoptera; a section of the insect kingdom characterised by having a coiled proboscis and wings covered in minute scales. There are some 2500 species in the British Isles. Of these only 70 or so are butterflies, around 50 of which are native.
The remaining 2400 are moths. Despite their greater number they have never received the attention that the butterflies have, probably because of their nocturnal habits.
The moths have traditionally been split into two arbitrary categories: the Macro moths and the Micro moths. This split is loosely based on size. Of the 2400 species of moth about 950 are macros and the remainder the micros. Despite their greater number, the micros have not been studied in great detail by the average lepidopterist and so until recently very few illustrated books existed. The macros, however, have long been covered; first by Richard South's Moths of the British Isles then by Bernard Skinner's Moths of the British Isles and more recently by Waring and Townsend's, A Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland - the first book to illustrate the moths in their resting positions.
Abundance and Status
At Keele I have recorded 415 species of lepidoptera. Of this number 23 are butterflies and 392 moths. This large total reflects the range of habitats and food plants available at Keele.
If we compare the relative abundance of the species that we have at Keele with Staffordshire as a whole, using the categories in Richard Warren's "List of Staffordshire Lepidoptera" we find:
| Very Rare | 2 | Uncommon | 33 |
| Rare | 5 | Local and Common | 48 |
| Local and Rare | 9 | Common | 208 |
| Local and Uncommon | 36 | Very Common | 64 |
From this we can see that 85 species (21%) fall in to the Uncommon to Rare categories. In addition 16 of these have been recorded on fewer than 10 occasions in the county. It can also be seen that 93 species (23%) are described as Local ie. having a restricted distribution. This reflects the importance of the environment in which the campus is situated.
A complete list of species (including butterfles) is available in Acrobat
Format (PDF)
