Dark Dagger

A foul day, with almost continuous rain, mostly spent catching up with emails and entering data. Luckily Pete found this Dark Dagger caterpillar in Kent yesterday, and brought it home to rear into a moth. The adult is almost identical to the slightly more widespread Grey Dagger and can only be distinguished by microscopic examination of the genitalia, but the fully-grown caterpillars of the  two species are different, although both are beautifully patterned in yellow and red.