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hatrack

(59,442 posts)
Mon Nov 25, 2019, 09:45 PM Nov 2019

Since 2000, At Least 3 Moth Species New To Ireland Have Arrived As Earth Warms

Human-made global warming is bringing new species of moths to Irish shores, a new atlas suggests.

The Rosy Wave, Orange Sallow and Blair’s Shoulder-knot have all been recorded in Ireland since the start of the new millennium, according to the Atlas of Britain and Ireland’s Larger Moths. They were first spotted in the south-eastern counties of Wexford, Waterford and parts of south Wicklow where they flew over from Wales between 2002 and 2005.

Lead researcher on the atlas, Dr Zoë Randle, said the northerly migration of species of moths and butterflies is a phenomenon observed in northern Europe in recent decades. She said moths are proof that human-made climate change is happening now and not in the distant future and where moths go, human beings will follow as the Earth heats up.

Great Britain has observed the arrival of new species too, such as the Clifden Nonpareil, Tree-lichen Beauty and Black-spotted Chestnut. Other species, once only found in southern regions of England, are spreading gradually northwards. The atlas records that 38 per cent of all moth species in Britain and Ireland have spread to other areas in the last 50 years, most as a result of global warming.

EDIT

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/global-warming-bringing-new-species-of-moths-to-ireland-1.4094618

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