Moth of the Moment – The moths that say Ni!

The Ni Moth (Trichoplusia ni) is a rare migrant to the UK. At first glance, it’s not too dissimilar to the more common migrant the Silver Y (Autographa gamma). They’re both plusia-type moths, noctuids in the group Plusiinae. While the perhaps more familiar Silver Y has a silvery-white “Y”, or Greek gamma-shaped, marking on its forewings, the Ni has something not dissimilar, almost like a broken version of the gamma where a white spot sits adjacent to an arc. The early naturalists whimsically likened this to the Greek letter nu, pronounced ni, hence the name. Ni Moth, sideview showing the “nu” with its adjacent spot on the forewing The plusia moths are often thought of as having metallic markings on the forewings and included the most obviously metallic-looking moth we have here, the Burnished Brass, but also counted in their number are Gold Spot, The Spectacle, Golden Twin-spot and Dewick’s Plusia. Ni Moth, overhead view showing the “nu” with its adjacent spot on each forewing The UK…