August Photo Shows Isokoisa Moth Glinting with Metallic Hues

A reader's early-August photograph published in Aamulehti was identified by Tomi Kumpulainen, curator at the Tampere Natural History Museum, as the isokoisa moth.

The species is one of a few hundred related moths. Large for its subgroup but modest among night-flying species, it has a wingspan of about four centimetres.

The base colour of the wings is either straw yellow or bone white, and their glossy surface can pick up faint metallic tones depending on the light.

As a caterpillar the species feeds on stinging nettle leaves and shelters by rolling a small leaf tube. The adult moth is common and typically flies in late summer. A familiar sight in August.

The sighting joins other recent insect finds reported in Tampere, including a colourful maple owlet moth caterpillar reported earlier this month.