Yorkshire Status: Very rare and very local resident. Possibly extinct.

Lead Belle S. mucronata and July Belle S. luridata were first described as separate species in 1941. All Yorkshire records since then have been of S. luridata. An old collection originally belonging to John Porter of Hull was re-examined and contained two specimens labelled "Lead Belle, J. Beanland, Baildon Moor, 1897." The wing pattern was very suggestive of S. mucronata, and the genitalia of one was examined in 2010 and proved to be a male of this species. S. mucronata can now be reinstated to the Yorkshire and VC64 lists.

Although all subsequent records have been of July Belle, we have at times had photographs of moths looking rather suggestive of Lead Belle. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that Lead Belle still occurs somewhere in the county. See comments under July Belle for more discussion.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: The species originally bearing this name was separated into two shortly before the last Yorkshire list was written (YNU, 1970). At that time there were no definite records but it was assumed that most records would still be of S. mucronata. However, the only confirmed records since are of S. luridata (Hufnagel) and all the dated records also suggest that S. luridata is the predominant, if not the only species present in Yorkshire. In Derbyshire luridata has been found to be predominant (Harrison & Sterling, 1986) and Garland (1979) suggests the same is likely in the Sheffield area. Dunn & Parrack (1986) also record both species in Durham, with similar comments on their relative frequencies. A proper study of the distribution of this species-pair in Yorkshire is badly needed.

	Retained Specimen / Photograph will be Required.

Recorded in 1 (1%) of 200 10k Squares.
First Recorded in 1897.
Last Recorded in 1897.
Additional Stats