Red List: Least Concern (LC). GB Status: Common.

Identification

Usually distinctive.

Recording method

Flies by day, especially in warm weather. Readily disturbed from vegetation.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters as a pupa. Larvae  July to September. Pupates in a flimsy cocoon on or just below ground.

Larval foodplants

Mainly heathers, sometimes trefoils, clovers and vetches.

Habitat

Heathland and moorland.

History

First recorded for Dumfries and Galloway in 1820 for VC72 at Raehills by Little who stated it was ‘very common’, in 1898 for VC74 at Corsemalzie by Gordon who found it ‘abundant on all the moors in Wigtownshire’, and in 1941 for VC73 near Kippford by Bretherton.