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

Identification

Usually distinctive.

Recording method

Attracted to light.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters as a pupa. Larvae  June to October. Pupates in loose earth or plant debris.

Larval foodplants

The flowers of a wide variety of, mainly herbaceous, plants.

Habitat

A variety of open inland sites, coastal saltmarshes and dunes.

History

First recorded for Dumfries and Galloway in 1870 for VC73 in Colvend parish by White, in 1899 for VC74 at Kirkmaiden Shore by Gordon where it was ‘rather common’ and in 1975 for VC72 at the Caerlaverock Rothamsted light trap.