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First statements
Thomas & Johnson

….Wells refers to researchers who found that the moths sometimes preferred resting sites besides tree trunks, such as branches high in the canopy…. Majerus (1998), using data obtained from 1964 to 1996, found that "…In the wild, 32 moths were found on exposed trunks, unexposed trunks, and trunk/branch joints, while 15 were found on branches alone. In the vicinity of light traps, another 135 were found associated with trunks, and 20 with branches alone, for totals of 168 associated with trunks, and 35 with branches alone…

…Clearly, Wells' implication…that peppered moths do not rest on tree trunks is simply not supported by the available data.

Wells

Using caged moths, Mikkola (1984) observed that `the normal resting place of the Peppered Moth is beneath small , more or less horizontal branches … probably high up in the canopies, and the species probably only exceptionally rests on tree trunks…'
…In twenty-five years of field work, Clarke (1985) and his colleagues found only one peppered moth on a tree trunk…
…Howlett and Majerus (1987) …found that Mikkola's observations on caged moths were valid for wild moths, as well. They concluded: `..it seems certain that most B. Betularia rest where they are hidden…and [that] exposed areas of tree trunks are not an important resting site for any form of B. Betularia'.
… Liebert and Brakefield (1987) confirmed Mikkola's observations that `the species rests predominantly on branches…Many moths will rest underneath, or on the side of, narrow branches in the canopy'…
…in the 1980s…biologists found that in the wild peppered moths do not rest on tree trunks…