Red List: Vulnerable (VU). GB Status: Common.

Identification

Usually distinctive. Female has vestigial wings and is flightless.

Recording method

Females can be found at night on tree trunks. Males attracted to light.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters as a pupa. Larvae early April to late May. Pupates underground.

Larval foodplants

Hawthorn and Blackthorn.

Habitat

Woodland, scrub and hedgerows.

History

First recorded for Dumfries and Galloway in 1862 for VC72 near Dumfries by Lennon who reported it as ‘not very common around the Dumfries area’, in 1906 for VC74 at Corsemalzie by Gordon who found it ‘common at rest on birch twigs and hedges in Wigtownshire’ and in 1974 at Sandyhills by Ford.