Davey, P., 2009: A cosmopolitan, multivoltine species and a regular immigrant to Britain, most often seen in the south, the larva feeding nocturnally on or beneath the surface of the ground on herbaceous plants and vegetables. In Dorset, the moth is ubiquitous and has been trapped in every month except January, although numbers vary greatly from year to year depending on the size and northward extent of immigration from north Africa into Europe during the spring months. Spring immigrants have been noted in fifteen out of the past twenty years, however, numbers so early in the year tend to be small. By early July, second brood adults emerge, but further influxes from Europe augment resident populations. There is no evidence that the species overwinters in the county, and it is thought that all stages perish during the first frosts of winter; the status of the moth is therefore an immigrant and transitory resident. |