Species Details

ABH: 65.003

BF: 1647

Family: Drepanidae

Subfamily: Drepaninae

Taxon: Watsonalla cultraria

Authority: (Fabricius, 1775)

Vernacular: Barred Hook-tip

Account: Local in beech woodland throughout England and Wales. Frequent where beech grows in the New Forest and on the chalk in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, although rare elsewhere in these counties. Wingspan male 26-32 mm, female 30-35 mm. Main confusion species is Oak Hook-tip W. binaria, but smaller and with a broad dark median fascia across the forewing. Larva feeds on Beech, 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: male 26 — 32 mm; female 30 — 35 mm

Surrey Flight Period: 15 Apr (2007) — 29 Sep (1986)

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

Foodplant: Fagus sp.

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

* Based on adult records only.

Records: 357

Individuals: 123

Earliest Year: 1893

Latest Year: 2020

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