Species Details

ABH: 73.169

BF: 2343b

Family: Noctuidae

Subfamily: Xyleninae

Taxon: Mesapamea secalis

=Mesapamea remmi

Authority: (Linnaeus, 1758)

Vernacular: Common Rustic

Account: Common in calcareous grassland, gardens, farmland, heathland and woodland throughout much of the British Isles. Only separated from M. didyma and M. remmi in the 1980s, and individuals are mostly recorded as an aggregate of the three species Highly polymorphic, and impossible to distinguish from Lesser Common Rustic M. didyma and Remm's Rustic M. remmi, except by dissection of the genitalia. Larva feeds on various grasses, including Cock's-foot, Tall Fescue, Tufted Hair-grass and certain cereal crops.

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: 28 — 34 mm

Surrey Flight Period: 14 Jun (1998) — 10 Sep (1977)

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

Foodplant: Gramineae, Luzula pilosa (Hairy Wood-rush).

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: 4 — ️‼️Dissection required️‼️
Further Information: https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/mesapamea-secalis/
Statistics

* Based on adult records only.

Records: 185

Individuals: 535

Earliest Year: 1970

Latest Year: 2025

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