Identification

Unmistakable.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters as a pupa. Larvae are present July and August, hiding by day and feeding at night, at the base of the foodplant.

Larval foodplants

Mainly bedstraws but also Rosebay Willowherb and Purple-loosestrife.

Habitat

Likes open aspects like golf courses, heathland, sand-dunes and grassland.

History 1860-2010

Douglas Robinson (1870-71) had collected a few larvae during the season on Almorness (VC73). Gordon (1913) had found it to be scarce and local, but not uncommon on Silene maritima late dusk on the shores of Luce Bay in June 1907. In June 1896 he had found three at Azalea flowers at Corzemalzie, Wigtownshire.

Sir Arthur Duncan (1909-84) during his lifetime had found it at Closeburn, Lochar, Tynron and Castlehill, Dumfries (all VC72).

The only Rothamsted record was of one caught at Waterside Mains, Keir, in July, 1976. The following year it was trapped at the Mull of Galloway. The early 1980s provided a series of records that were trapped on the Hensol Estate.

From 1993 to 2010 the eighty-five records were from widely scattered sites across the region, with no particular site dominating the records.