Species Account
Distribution
Summary Data
Season (Adult / Immature):
|
National Status: Migrant Local Status: Uncommon but widely distributed migrant/wanderer. Local Record: Grade 1 See here for explanation Flight time: Recorded all months (most Sep-Oct). Forewing: 19-23mm. Foodplant: Low growing plants, Dandelion etc. |
Record breakdown:
VC9 | VC11 | Region | |
---|---|---|---|
Year first recorded | 1955 | 1983 | 1955 |
Year last recorded | 2011 | 2010 | 2011 |
Number of records | 1580 | 64 | 3288 |
Number of individuals | 6802 | 105 | 13814 |
Unique positions | 122 | 10 | 264 |
Unique locations | 97 | 9 | 212 |
Adult records | 1574 | 64 | 3276 |
Immature records | 0 | 0 | 0 |
For the region, we have a total of 3288 records from 212 sites. Earliest record on file is in 1955.
Photos
Species Account
For further information refer UK Moths.
Davey, P., 2009: A cosmopolitan, mainly tropical and sub-tropical species, and a regular immigrant to Britain, commonest in the south, rarely recorded inland in Scotland, the larva, although rarely encountered, is a defoliator of wild and cultivated herbaceous plants, and sometimes thrives in greenhouses. In the tropics, the larva is a serious pest of vegetables. In Dorset, the moth has been observed in every month of the year, although numbers vary annually depending on the size and northward extent of migrations from the Mediterranean region and mainland Africa, where it is resident. The build up in numbers as the year advances is similar to other common immigrant species. Unusually high numbers of adults were trapped in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2003 and 2006. There is no evidence that the Pearly Underwing overwinters in the county; it is thought that all stages perish during the first frosts of winter. The status of the moth is therefore of an immigrant and transitory resident.
See background to species accounts. Index of Vernacular names - Search - Random Species