Species Details

ABH: 70.238

BF: 1918

Family: Geometridae

Subfamily: Ennominae

Taxon: Selenia lunularia

Authority: (Hübner, [1788])

Vernacular: Lunar Thorn

Account: Local breeding in open woodland and scrub throughout the British Isles, usually in very small numbers; also an occasional immigrant to the south coast of England The most likely confusion species is Purple Thorn S. tetralunaria, which see for differences. Larva feeds on Ash, Dog-rose and Blackthorn, over-wintering as a pupa.

Updated December 2019, status review

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: 39 — 44 mm

Surrey Flight Period: 16 May (1948) — 20 Jun (1979)

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

Foodplant: Betula sp. (a birch), Fraxinus sp., Quercus sp. (an oak).

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

Status: Least Concern (LC)

UK BAP:

WCA:

Click here to view the full geology map of Surrey.

Verification Grade: 2 — Care needed to identify 🤔
Further Information: https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/selenia-lunularia/
Statistics

* Based on adult records only.

Records: 28

Individuals: 12

Earliest Year: 1902

Latest Year: 1982

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