Species Account
Distribution
Summary Data
Season (Adult / Immature):
|
National Status: Nb Local Status: Very rare resident. Local Record: Grade 4 See here for explanation Flight time: One generation, Jun-Jul. Forewing: 18-21mm. Foodplant: Herbaceous plants. |
Record breakdown:
VC9 | Region | |
---|---|---|
Year first recorded | 1905 | 1905 |
Year last recorded | 2011 | 2011 |
Number of records | 27 | 54 |
Number of individuals | 64 | 128 |
Unique positions | 3 | 6 |
Unique locations | 3 | 6 |
Adult records | 26 | 52 |
Immature records | 0 | 0 |
For the region, we have a total of 54 records from 6 sites. Earliest record on file is in 1905.
Photos
Species Account
For further information refer UK Moths.
Davey, P., 2009: A very local and decreasing species confined to the south-east corner of Britain plus several sites in Devon and Gloucestershire, the larva feeding on mint (Mentha spp.), yellow loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris), water dock (Rumex hydrolapathum), lousewort (Pedicularis sylvatica) and other herbaceous marsh plants. In Dorset, the moth has not been seen for more than seventy years; it was seen annually at Chamberlaynes next to Bere Stream by H Andrewes up to 1938. The adult is highly sedentary, and light traps operating several hundred metres distance from a colony may never yield the species. Although unimproved water meadow has all but disappeared from the county due to farming practices, drainage and development, several fragments of suitable habitat still exist. Targeted research in floristically-rich water meadow habitat, may reveal a surviving colony: Bere Stream south-east of Bere Regis, the River Crane at Edmonsham, the River Avon at Burton, and the River Mude at Mudeford.
Hill, L., 2011: A confirmed specimen taken on 14 June 2011 at Alderholt by T Morris. Two Hampshire records from nearby West Park in 2002 and Blashford Lakes in 2007 suggest further colonies in the wider vicinity; however, the sedentary behaviour of this insect noted by Peter Davey indicate it is unlikely to have come from these Hampshire colonies.
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