Species Details

ABH: 18.001

BF: 464

Family: Plutellidae

Taxon: Plutella xylostella

=Plutella maculipennis

Authority: (Linnaeus, 1758)

Vernacular: Diamond-back Moth

Account: Common immigrant from mainland Europe, sometimes appearing in vast numbers in all types of habitat throughout the British Isles, becoming established under favourable conditions, when occasionally reaching plague proportions on farms where cabbages are grown. Widespread and in some years abundant in Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight. Wingspan 12-17 mm. Larva feeds on various Cruciferae beneath a silken web, 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: 12 — 17 mm

Surrey Flight Period: 9 Feb (2024) — 27 Dec (2025)

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

Foodplant: Cruciferae.

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

Status: Migrant

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/plutella-xylostella/

Statistics

* Based on adult records only.

Records: 400

Individuals: 665

Earliest Year: 1995

Latest Year: 2025

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