Species Account

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Distribution

Summary Data

Season (Adult / Immature):

National Status: Nationally Scarce A

Local Status: Scarce and mainly coastal resident.

Local Record: Grade 3 See here for explanation

Flight time: Jun-Sep.

Forewing: 12-14mm

Foodplant: Viper's-bugloss.

IMPORTANT - Please note that the maps and accounts are provisional, subject to change and further update. The whole dataset still needs to go through the final verification process and it is likely that a very small number of records will not satisfy the present requirements and there are other records that have not been formally submitted. The information is for guidance only.

Record breakdown:

	VC9	Region
Year first recorded	1883	1883
Year last recorded	2008	2008
Number of records	47	94
Number of individuals	77	154
Unique positions	30	60
Unique locations	24	48
Adult records	37	74
Immature records	4	8

For the region, we have a total of 94 records from 48 sites. Earliest record on file is in 1883.

Photos

Species Account

For further information refer UK Moths.

Davey, P., 2009: A rare species, confined mainly to vegetated shingle beaches and sandhills in southern and eastern England, the larva feeding on viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare). In Dorset, the species is local and confined to Portland, the Purbeck coast and in one site on the shores of Poole Harbour; viper’s bugloss is frequent in all these places. The plant also occurs on sandy soils in the Poole Basin, but the moth has yet to be found in this biotype. A robust colony exists at Holton Heath Marsh, where tracks around the periphery of an old munitions dump support small stocks of the foodplant.

This species should be included in conservation agency management plans for coastal chalky grassland sites containing viper’s bugloss, and in Natural England’s management plans for Holton Heath Marsh.

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