Identification

Unmistakable.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters as a pupa deep underground.
Larvae present late May to early August.

Larval foodplants

Pedunculate Oak and Sessile Oak that are mature.

Habitat

Broadleaved woodland and other places with mature oaks, upon which the larvae feed.

History 1860-2010

McDiarmid (1866) in the Transactions states that William Lennon had been highly fortunate in finding three new moths for Scotland… a Great Prominent near Dalskairth (VC73). This record is additional to MOGBI. Douglas Robinson (1870-71) had found two pupae at the foot of oaks in September, 1870, on Almorness (VC73).

During the 1960s Pelham-Clinton had found it closeby at Palnackie and across the Urr Water at Rockcliffe (both VC73).
1976-77 saw five records from the Rothamsted station at Gatehouse of Fleet, with one other RIS record in 1991 at Mabie Forest. In between those years, 1982-84, there were ten records of it trapped on the Hensol Estate (VC73). From 1997-2000 there were fifty records from Cally Woods, since then just over twenty records from widespread sites in Kirkcudbrightshire, the only vice-county where it resides.