Species Details

ABH: 34.004

BF: 898

Family: Cosmopterigidae

Subfamily: Cosmopteriginae

Taxon: Limnaecia phragmitella

Authority: Stainton, 1851

Vernacular: Bulrush Down Moth

Account: Common in fens, marshes and freshwater margins throughout the British Isles, but not in northern Scotland. Fairly widely distributed across Hampshire but perhaps under-recorded, and decidedly uncommon on the Isle of Wight. Wingspan 16-22 mm. Rather difficult to assign to a family, perhaps, but once known, the species is easy enough to identify. Larva feeds within flowering spikes of Bulrush and Lesser Bulrush.

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: 16 — 22 mm

Surrey Flight Period: 23 Jun (2020) — 3 Aug (2011)

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

Foodplant: Typha sp.

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

Status: Common

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/limnaecia-phragmitella/

Statistics

* Based on adult records only.

Records: 23

Individuals: 1

Earliest Year: 2002

Latest Year: 2025

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