Yorkshire Status: Rare and very local resident.

The status of this species in the county is difficult to gauge. Porrit in 1883 wrote "recorded from Scarborough and York, but Mr Sang thinks it very doubtful it occurs in Yorkshire, and that the supposed specimens were merely dark examples of N. schwarziellus. A moth in the RIS trap at Pannal in 1980 was determined by Eric Bradford and appears to be correct, but other records from Harrogate in 1975 and Pannal in 1985 are not confirmed. The only other genuine record appears to be from the Little Don Valley in 2001. This was confirmed by dissection by Harry Beaumont. So it appears there are just two genuine records, and the other dots on the maps are dubious.

It apparently flies on sunny days in May and June in open heathy woodland and moorland where the larvae feed on bilberry, though its full life history is unknown. It is very similar in appearance to other members of the genus and verification requires dissection. The problem is that it is sexually dimorphic. The larger males have grey-brown wings and look remarkably like Nematopogon magna whereas the smaller females can have more ochreous wings and resemble Nematopogon schwarziellus, All these species are readily separable by dissection.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: Porritt (1907) commented that this species is 'very doubtful as a Yorkshire moth'. There are a number of published Yorkshire records but at present only the VC64 record is above suspicion.

	Determination by Genitalia Examination (gen. det.) Required

Recorded in 5 (3%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1883. Last Recorded in 2001. Additional Stats

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