Species Details

ABH: 73.223

BF: 2246a

Family: Noctuidae

Subfamily: Xyleninae

Taxon: Dryobota labecula

Authority: (Esper, 1788)

Vernacular: Oak Rustic

Account: This species was found in Jersey in 1991 and is now established on Evergreen (Holm) Oak in the Channel Islands. First recorded in Britain at Freshwater, Isle of Wight, on 15 October 1999, and now annual in Freshwater and Ventnor in reasonable numbers, although only one confirmed larval record exists, from Fort Victoria in 2006; subsequently appearing in mainland Hampshire on 15 October 2005, and increasingly thereafter along the south coast: there have been two larval records to 2015. Wingspan 30-32 mm. The main confusion species are certain forms of Common Rustic Mesapamea secalis and Lesser Common Rustic Mesapamea didyma, but Oak Rustic usually has orange (occasionally white) reniform stigmata and flies very late in the season.

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: 30 — 32 mm

Surrey Flight Period: —

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: Least Concern (LC)

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/dryobota-labecula/

Statistics

* Based on adult records only.

Records: 12

Individuals: 6

Earliest Year: 2014

Latest Year: 2025

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