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

Identification

Usually distinctive.

Recording Method

Attracted to light.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters as a small larva. Larvae July to May. Pupates in a slight cocoon close to the ground in plant debris.

Larval foodplants

A variety of low-growing herbaceous plants including bedstraws, Wood Avens, Primrose, Dandelion and docks.

Habitat

A wide range of habitats.

History

First recorded in Dumfries and Galloway for VC74 near Montreith near Port William by Morton who said it was ‘frequent’  and Gordon (1919) who said ‘was common at woodsides at dusk and rough herbage during the day’.  The first for VC72 was in 1932 at Closeburn, south of Thornhill by Duncan and for VC73 in 1942 near Gatehouse of Fleet by Russell.

Records were sparse until the setting-up of the Rothamsted trap network in 1974 when it was trapped on a regular basis.