Identification

Unmistakable.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters as a pupa underground. Larvae present from mid-June to early September.

Recording method

Adult easily disturbed during the day from bracken, comes readily to light.

Larval foodplants

Bracken.

Habitat

Common wherever there is Bracken, the larval foodplant.

History

First recorded for Dumfries and Galloway for VC73 in 1870 in Colvend parish by White who said it was the first Scottish locality, in 1899 for VC74 at Corsemalzie by Gordon who found it ‘abundant among bracken, with hundreds among there at dusk in Kennel Wood’, ‘also comes to light’, but not until 1944 for VC72 at Tynron by Duncan.