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

Identification

Usually distinctive. Care required, potential confusion with Cream Wave and Smoky Wave.

Recording Method

Attracted to light, can be disturbed by day and flies at dusk.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters as a larva in plant debris in which it later pupates.  Larvae late August to May.

Larval foodplants

Common Valerian and Meadowsweet.

Habitat

Damp grassland and marshes with rank vegetation.

History

First recorded in Dumfries and Galloway in VC73 as recently as 1977 at Bridge of Dee, west of Castle Douglas, in the Rothamsted moth trap.  It was found in VC72 in 1997 at Kirkton and in VC74 not until 2017 at Leswalt.