Species Details

ABH: 62.061

BF: 1478b

Family: Pyralidae

Subfamily: Phycitinae

Taxon: Vitula biviella

Authority: (Zeller, 1848)

Vernacular: Pine-blossom Knot-horn

Account: A rare migrant or adventive. First recorded from a garden in Lydd, Kent on 13 July 1997, with four at the same site on four dates between 5 and 26 July 1998, and nine in 1999. First recorded in Hampshire in 2022. Wingspan 12-18 mm. Similar to certain Ephestia species, but greyer and less variegated in appearance, while the twin discal spots on the forewing of V. biviella are more elongate and the whitish cross-lines are more distinct, straighter and contrasting [Goater]. Larva feeds on Scots Pine, living within a silken gallery amongst the young shoots and male plants.

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 — 18 mm

Surrey Flight Period: 24 Jun (2020) — 9 Aug (2012)

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: Nationally Scarce A

UK BAP:

WCA:

Click here to view the full geology map of Surrey.

Verification Grade: 2 — Care needed to identify, an image may be required 🤔
Further Information: https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/vitula-biviella/
Statistics

* Based on adult records only.

Records: 5

Individuals: 0

Earliest Year: 2012

Latest Year: 2020

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