Species Details

ABH: 63.005

BF: 1365

Family: Crambidae

Subfamily: Pyraustinae

Taxon: Pyrausta despicata

Authority: (Scopoli, 1763)

Vernacular: Straw-barred Pearl

Account: Local, on sand-dunes, dry heathland, downland and open areas on chalk or limestone, throughout the British Isles. Forewing more mottled and less clearly marked than in any other British Pyrausta species [Goater]. Flies both by day and night. Larva feeds on Ribwort and Greater Plantain, forming silken galleries.

Accounts provided by and used with the kind permission of Mike Wall, Hampshire County Moth Recorder. These will in due course be gradually replaced with species accounts with a Surrey context.

Wingspan: 14 — 19mm

Surrey Flight Period: 28 Mar (2012) — 9 Sep (2015)

The flight period of overwintering adults are not given. See the flight chart below the distribution map.

Foodplant: Plantago lanceolata (Ribwort Plantain), Plantago major (Greater Plantain).

Foodplant accounts are from the HOSTS database — Natural History Museum, London, UK. (CC0).

Status: Common

UK BAP:

WCA:

Click here to view the full geology map of Surrey.

Verification Grade: 1 — Relatively easily identified 👌

Further Information: https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/pyrausta-despicata/

Statistics

* Based on adult records only.

Records: 55

Individuals: 15

Earliest Year: 1990

Latest Year: 2020

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