Lackey - Butterflies and Moths of Northern Ireland

Maps updated: April 2008

Malacosoma neustria (Linnaeus, 1758)

Description: Wingspan 30-41mm. Adults vary from pale yellow ochre to reddish brown; females tend to be darker in colour than males. There are two pale median lines on the forewings but these may occasionally be absent.

Sets:

Flight Period: Skinner (1984) gives the flight period as July and August.

Status: There are two old 19th century records from Fermanagh, around the Enniskillen area and the eastern end of Boa Island. There is no recent evidence to suggest that this moth currently survives in N. Ireland. It occurs more widely in southern Ireland especially in the Burren Co. Clare.

Ecology: Found in a wide variety of habitats. The larvae are communal, living inside a silken web for most of their development. The foodplants are blackthorn, hawthorn and sallow. It overwinters as an egg.

Caterpillar:

Thompson, R. S. & Nelson, B., 2003 (Oct 2). [In] The Butterflies and Moths of Northern Ireland
http://www.ulstermuseum.org.uk/lepidoptera/species.asp?item=5703

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