Hantsmoths

The resident subspecies suffusa, now Extinct in the British Isles, was formerly found in damp woodland in parts of Wales, where last recorded in 1959 at Cardiff, Glamorgan, the county in which it was presumed to be resident. The nominate subspecies is a rare immigrant from northern Europe, appearing in south-eastern England on about ten occasions, mostly in Kent, where last recorded at Dungeness in April 1946, since when recorded just once, at Seaton Sluice, Northumberland in April 2007. Not recorded in Hampshire or on the Isle of Wight to date. Wingspan 42-47 mm. The most likely confusion species is Nonconformist L. lamda, which lacks the orange markings and has the claviform stigma indistinct. Larva feeds on Alder, no evidence of breeding in the UK.