Meligethes matronalis

I've caught this at home before but these were the first I've actually found on their foodplant (Dame's-violet Hesperis matronalis) which helped up my confidence that the ID was correct. I have previously swept Meligethes aeneus off Dame's-violet so don't assume it's matronalis because it's on matronalis.

male Meligethes matronalis showing its fore tibia, clypeus, pronotum and aedeagus (tegmen and median lobe), Wendling Beck Environment Project (Norfolk, UK), 26th May 2023

second male Meligethes matronalis showing its fore tibia, clypeus, pronotum, median lobe and tegmen, Wendling Beck Environment Project (Norfolk, UK), 26th May 2023

I caught 10 Meligethes in a single sweep of one Dame's-violet out of many plants. I examined 6 which all had the same general appearance (i.e. colour and pronotum shape) and retained 4. As the first two proved to be males I didn't bother examining the other two, below, in detail.

2x Meligethes matronalis, Wendling Beck Environment Project (Norfolk, UK), 26th May 2023

Previously I have caught this species at home and given the lack of Dame's-violet here (there's loads a mile or so down the road) and the small number of records of the species in the county I wasn't completely confident I had got the IDs right. They were in clearwing pheremone lure traps - I'm not sure if they were necesarily attracted to the pheremone lure or the yellow lid or what, but this one had the lure for Hornet Moth. At the time I think I was only using Hackston's key and if memory serves me right I didn't have Duff's key available. Looking at the photos again in the light of recent experience I think it's safe to call them matronalis - it all looks good and there's nothing very similar among Duff's diagrams. My only hesitation is the horizontal line through the median lobe of both but I suspect that's damage caused by me.

male Meligethes matronalis shwoing median lobe and tegmen, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 23rd June 2019

This time the lure was for Large Red-belted Clearwing. On this one the sides of the tegmen diverge - I suspect that's down to my poor prep skills than anything else - at least it doesn't match anything else in Duff.

male Meligethes matronalis shwoing fore tibia, median lobe and tegmen, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 28th June 2019

At the time I only put this down as a possible, but looking back at it now I think it must have been one. Again the tegmen sides diverge but here you can see it was definitely my poor prep skills as you can see tears in the V where it's been pulled apart. There's no Dame's-violet at this site either so it seems that the species is prone to dispersing.

male Meligethes matronalis, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows (Norfolk, UK), 15th May 2019