Identification

Small, pale oval with a dark outline, a pale area adjacent to the oval and a pointed forewing with straight costa.

Recording Method.

Attracted to light, also comes to sugar.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters close to the surface as a fully grown larva during August to spring, when it pupates underground.

Larval foodplants

Larval foodplants are not fully known. Possibly Thrift and Rock Sea Spurrey.

Habitat

Coastal cliffs and rocky shores.

History

The first record came on 16th July 1999 when one was trapped at Float Bay, Wigtownshire. The following day, 75 were trapped at the Mull of Galloway (VC74), and from then to 2008, it has been found on Torrs Heughs at Sandyhills (1999) and Meikle Ross (2002), the only Kirkcudbrightshire records, with one more Dumfriesshire record from Kirkton, in 2006.

Since the original two records in VC74, a further 13 records have come from Wigtownshire during the period 1999-2008, all very adjacent to the coast.