Yorkshire Status: Scarce and local resident.

Porritt in 1907 described this species as "widely distributed and common, but not recorded from the coast". That is not really the case nowadays as it occurs in several coastal locations particularly Spurn and Flamborough and it is rare in the north-western half of the county. Numbers built up in the 1990s but have declined in recent years. The name "Plain" is a bit derogatory as it a rather nice-looking large sandy-brown species. The larvae feed on goosefoot and oraches, so obsessive "tidying up" of our waste areas is not doing it any favours. The comments in Sutton and Beaumont imply that it was rarely encountered at that time.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: This species now appears to have become established at Spurn (VC61). There have also been several recent records from VC63, and one from south VC64, which suggests the species may be spreading in the south of the County. Certainly from Skinner's (1984) description of this species' distribution, it should be much more widespread. There has also been a record from near Saltholme in the Tees marshes in VC66 on 19.8.1978 (R.T. McAndrew; Dunn & Parrack, 1986), so the area around South Gare near Redcar might also prove to house this secretive species.

Recorded in 63 (32%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1883. Last Recorded in 2024. Additional Stats

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