Species Account

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Distribution

Summary Data

Season (Adult / Immature):

National Status: Local

Local Status: Rare and restricted resident.

Local Record: Grade 3 See here for explanation

Flight time: One generation, mid May-Aug.

Forewing: 11-12mm.

Foodplant: Grasses, sedges and rushes.

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	VC11	Region
Year first recorded	1905	1983	1905
Year last recorded	2011	2005	2011
Number of records	55	3	116
Number of individuals	86	3	178
Unique positions	32	2	68
Unique locations	25	2	54
Adult records	55	3	116
Immature records	0	0	0

For the region, we have a total of 116 records from 54 sites. Earliest record on file is in 1905.

Photos

Species Account

For further information refer UK Moths.

Davey, P., 2009: A local fen, bog, heath and moorland species in Britain, the larva feeds on sedges and grasses. In Dorset, the moth is at low density in wet heathland and mire (the same habitat occupied by the Small Grass Emerald¹⁶⁷⁰), falling within the confines of the Poole Basin. "Few suitable localities exist in the county, and it is not common in these, nor present in all of them." (W Parkinson Curtis ms). Wood-sedge (Carex sylvatica) and tufted hair-grass (Deschampsia cespitosa) are the two host foodplants named in texts, but these tend not to be found in an acid bog biotype in the county. Three sedges that occur frequently on the sites where moths are found are: common yellow sedge (Carex viridula oedocarpa), carnation sedge (Carex panicea) and star sedge (Carex echinata).

See background to species accounts. Index of Vernacular names - Search - Random Species