Leg with/without claw
The legs are clad in overlapping scales, legs without scales can be regocnized by the scale sockets. Some species have legs with long spurs others several spikes
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| leg fragment | leg with claw | leg with claw and scales | leg without scales | spur |
Wing
Wings are clad in tiny overlapping scales. Scales can have several shapes. The base of the wing is the toughest part
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| wing base | wing |
Antenna
Lepidopteran antennae are highly variable in shape; often clubbed, filiform or pectinate (with tiny extensions along the sides, there are 3 groups: Bipectinate, Pectinate and Quadripectinate). The sclerite at the base of the antennae can be used to couunt the number of individual lepidopteran in a pellet.
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| pectinate antennae | filiform antennae | pectinate antennae | filiform antennae | sclerite |
eye, proboscis, ocelli
The proboscis, is a hollow slightly curved tube. The tip is feathered with long hairs. The large multi facetted eyes have a black eye disk. Some species also have one or several simple eyes, or ocelli.
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| base of proboscis | tip of proboscis | proboscis | left Lepidopteran eye, right trichopteran eye | several eye disks |
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| ocelli |
Other, frenulum, male genitals, egg
Some moth species have a frenulum, a wing coupling device.
Moth eggs are soft and flexible, shape size and structure varies between species.The male has a median tubular organ (called the aedeagus) which is extended through an eversible sheath (or 'vesica'). Fragments of the spike-like structure on the vesica (the cornuti) can be found in bat pellets.
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| egg | egg | egg | cornuti | cornuti | cornuti |
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| frenulum | frenulum |