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 June to April. pupates underground.

Larval foodplants

Knapweeds, Dandelion, Greater Plantain and other herbacous plants.

Habitat

A wide variety of open situations including gardens, grassland, hedgerows, roadside verges and open woodland.

History

Lennon (1863) had stated that it was not common, but that it had occurred at Terregles (VC72). Gordon (1913) stated that in Barrett’s British Lepidoptera, it is recorded as occurring in the extreme south-west of Scotland, but obviously he was unaware of any records.

At the Gatehouse of Fleet Rothamsted station two were trapped, one in Mid-June and one in mid-July, both 1979.

Singles were caught at Cally Woods during 1997-99, with two trapped in June, 2000. One was trapped in Rainton Glen at the Cream o’ Galloway on 19th May 2004.