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

Identification

Usually distinctive.

Recording Method.

Flies from dusk. Attracted to light, mainly shortly after dusk.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters as a larva. Larvae June/July to April. Pupates underground.

Larval foodplants

Larvae feed on the roots of grasses and many herbaceous plants.

Habitat

Grassland and other open habitats.

History 1860-2010

Lennon (1863) stated it to be “common everywhere.” Gordon (1913) found it to be “common in fields and on the roadside near Corsemalzie where he caught one among long grass at dusk on 4th June 1911,” this being the only record to date for VC74.

MOGBI displayed no records, but their data only went up to 1975. Since then there have been a host of records from the Rothamsted station at Waterside Mains at Keir, Dumfriesshire, from 1976 onwards. Kirkcudbrightshire can only muster a handful of records, all from the 21st century.