Species Details

ABH: 71.025

BF: 1994

Family: Notodontidae

Subfamily: Phalerinae

Taxon: Phalera bucephala

Authority: (Linnaeus, 1758)

Vernacular: Buff-tip

Account: Common in open woodland, scrub, hedgerows and gardens throughout the British Isles. Unmistakable. Larva feeds on various broad-leaved trees and shrubs, including Sallow, Silver and Downy Birch, Pedunculate and Sessile Oak, and Hazel, over-wintering as a pupa.

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: 55 — 68 mm

Surrey Flight Period: 24 Apr (2007) — 12 Sep (2021)

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

Foodplant: Quercus petraea (Sessile Oak), Quercus robur (Pedunculate Oak), Salix alba (White Willow), Ulmus procera (English Elm).

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/phalera-bucephala/

Statistics

* Based on adult records only.

Records: 1129

Individuals: 551

Earliest Year: 1893

Latest Year: 2025

« Previous Random 🎲 Next »