Species Details

ABH: 34.009

BF: 896b

Family: Cosmopterigidae

Subfamily: Cosmopteriginae

Taxon: Cosmopterix pulchrimella

Authority: Chambers, 1875

Vernacular: Pellitory Beauty

Account: Nationally scarce (Na) wherever the foodplant is found, around farm buildings, on old walls and in urban areas from Hampshire to the Isles of Scilly. First recorded in Britain at Walditch, Dorset on 13 October 2001, thereafter rapidly colonising southern England. Previously known from the Channel Islands and southern Europe, from where the British population is presumed to have originated, most likely arriving in this country as immigrants Larva mines leaves of Pellitory-of-the-wall, preferring plants growing in the shade.

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: 6.5 — 9 mm

Surrey Flight Period: 4 Sep (2024) — 16 Sep (2024)

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

Foodplant:

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

Status: Nationally Scarce A

UK BAP:

WCA:

Click here to view the full geology map of Surrey.

Verification Grade: 2 — Care needed to identify, an image may be required 🤔
Further Information: https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/cosmopterix-pulchrimella/
Statistics

* Based on adult records only.

Records: 6

Individuals: 18

Earliest Year: 2015

Latest Year: 2024

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