Deltote pygarga (Hufnagel, 1766)

Description: Wingspan 32-40 mm. Forewings normally brown, but can appear mottled. Stigmata similar to base colour but finely outlined in white making them distinctive. There is also a white suffusion in the tornal area of the forewing; the fringe is chequered brown and white. Hindwings pale fuscous in the males, but slightly darker in females.

Key Identification Features:

• Prominent stigmata
• White patch in the tornal area of forewing
• Brown and white chequered fringe

Sets:

Flight Period: Recorded in June in N. Ireland. Skinner gives late May to mid-July as the normal flight period in Britain.

Status: Recorded in N.Ireland for the first time at Murlough House Dundrum and Rehaghy Mountain in 2000.

Ecology: A small woodland species that has clearly been overlooked during trapping due to its close resemblance to a micro moth. Adults are attracted to light in small numbers and may occasionally be found by day at rest on fences and tree trunks especially Scots Pine Pinus sylvatica. The larvae feed from July to September on Purple Moor-grass Molinia caerulea. It overwinters as a pupa.

World Distribution: Eurasiatic; found commonly from Portugal to southern Sweden and Finland.

Bradley & Fletcher number: 2410 Agassiz number: 73.024

Additional information:

UK Moths account

Caterpillar: