Yorkshire Status: Scarce and local resident.

This uncommon late-flying species feeds mainly on common mallow. Looking at the on-line plant atlas you could be forgiven for thinking that this is present all over the county, but it is probably only common in the south and east of Yorkshire, and this is where most of our records of the moth come from. This is now a very local moth in the county and numbers have reduced considerably in recent years. Porritt said in 1907 that is "apparently occurs where mallow grows freely in either a wild or cultivated state" but I doubt this could be said now. As Sutton and Beaumont suggest, there may be other factors in play.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: Now a very local species in Yorkshire. It is dependent on species of mallow which many sources suggest are becoming scarcer, so correspondingly, colonies of the moth are becoming more isolated. However, P. Q. Winter reports mallow to be quite widespread in VC61, although the moth is very rare. This would suggest there are other factors involved in the distribution of this species.

Recorded in 50 (25%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1883. Last Recorded in 2023. Additional Stats

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