Maps updated: April 2008

Agrotis clavis (Hufnagel, 1766)

Description: Wingspan 35-40mm. Forewings pale brown to greyish brown with well-defined stigmata. Crosslines not always well defined. Hindwings white with pale brown veining.

Similar Species: Heart & Dart Agrotis exclamationis, but this lacks the black bar on the forewing.

Key Identification Features:

• Black bar on the forewing absent
• Well-defined stigmata
• Habitat and locality

Sets:

Flight Period: Unknown in N. Ireland. Skinner gives late June and July as the normal flight period in Britain.

Status: Rare and last recorded in N. Ireland from Murlough Dundrum in 1978. The lack of any recent records from this well-studied site suggest it is now extinct at this locality. Previously recorded in Tyrone by T. Greer in 1921, in Londonderry by D.C. Campbell and at Ballymacilrany near Portmore Lough, Antrim by Capt W.S. Wright in 1951.

Ecology: Associated mainly with coastal dunes. Adults are attracted to light and also visit flowers such as Red Valerian Centranthus ruber and privet Ligustrum spp. The larvae feed from August until November on dock Rumex spp., clover Trifolium spp, knotgrass Polygonum spp. and possibly other herbaceous plants. It overwinters as a larva.

World Distribution: Throughout western Europe from the Arctic to Spain.

Caterpillar: