Lacanobia contigua (Denis & Schiff., 1775)

Description: Wingspan 36-42 mm. Forewings are brown appearing marbled. The stigmata are well defined and paler than the base colour. The ante and postmedian lines are both white. The latter has two tooth-shaped projections that extend to the terminal border of the wing. Hindwings are light fuscous with darker veining.

Key Identification Features:

• Marbled appearance of forewings
• Tooth-shaped projections on postmedian line
• Pale fuscous hindwings

Flight Period: Not known in N. Ireland. Skinner gives June and July as the main flight period in Britain.

Status: Rare, and not recorded with certainty for many years, although Baynes describes it as being widely distributed and not uncommon. The last known record in N. Ireland was from the Newcastle area, Down in the early 1970's. There is also an old record for Aghalee, Antrim

Ecology: A species normally associated with lightly wooded heaths and bogs. Adults are attracted to light in small numbers and may also be found occasionally by day at rest on fence posts and tree trunks. The larvae feed during July and August on a variety of trees and shrubs, including birch Betula spp., willow Salix spp., oak Quercus spp., Bog Myrtle Myrica gale, Heather Calluna vulgaris and Bracken Pteridium aquilinum. It overwinters as a pupa.

World Distribution: From central Scandinavia to Portugal.

Bradley & Fletcher number: 2156 Agassiz number: 73.265

Additional information:

UK Moths account