English

Alternative forms

• silver-y

Noun

silver Y ‎(plural silver Ys)

1. A species of moth, Autographa gamma, having a distinctive Y-shaped mark on its forewings.
   • 1992, BBC Wildlife, vol. 11, p. 69:

     The differences between the silver-y moth and its two newly described siblings – Autographa messmeri and A. voelkeri – are rather less obvious.

   • 2015, Norman Maclean, A Less Green and Pleasant Land, p. 223:

     There are a few day-flying exceptions such as hummingbird hawk-moths, silver Ys, cinnabars, scarlet tigers and burnets but, in general, knowledge of moths lags behind that of butterflies.

   • 2016, Patrick Barkham, The Guardian, 11 July:

     Ronaldo’s moth was one of thousands of Silver Y moths, a migratory species that moves north through Europe each summer in search of new breeding grounds, returning south in the autumn.