Venusia cambrica Curtis, 1839

Description: Wingspan 28-31mm. The forewings are very pale grey marked with darker grey cross-lines, the central ones being darkest in colour. Hindwings are near white with a series of small dashes around the outer margin.

Key Identification Features:

• Darkish grey cross-lines
• Pale Hindwings
• Broken line around outer margin of forewings

Sets:

Flight Period: Mid-June to early August.

Status: Widely distributed but local. All of the recent records are from the 1990s. Sites include Correl Glen NNR and Gortmaconnell Rock, Fermanagh; Rehaghy Mountain and Fivemiletown, Tyrone; Bohill NNR, Down and Glenarriff Forest Park, Antrim. There are old records for Londonderry, but it has not yet been recorded from Armagh, although it probably occurs more widely than records suggest.

Ecology: A species associated with woodland and moorland. Adults come to light in small numbers and can occasionally be found by day resting on the trunks of trees. The larvae can be found in August and September on Rowan Sorbus aucuparia and occasionally birch Betula spp. It overwinters as a pupa.

World Distribution: Throughout Europe east to Japan.

Bradley & Fletcher number: 1873 Agassiz number: 70.115

Additional information:

UK Moths account

Caterpillar: