Yorkshire Status: Local resident.

In 1907 Porritt described this species as "probably generally distributed". I doubt we would say that now. There hasn't been a VC63 record for over 100 years. Perhaps it is a victim of "improved" grassland, and there is less pignut in meadows nowadays. Whilst several food plants are mentioned in the literature, this is a pignut feeder in Yorkshire. It may be more common than these records suggest. Chimney Sweeper, which feeds on the same food plant, has far more dots on the map, but this of course that is a much showier and more easily-recorded species. D. pulcherrimella (the name means very beautiful) is certainly an attractive species, but it can be mistaken for D. douglasella, or even sometimes the rather plainer D. sordidatella. Often dissection is the safest option to be sure of identification, but if you have caught it in a field of pignut, I doubt we will argue with you.

	Retained Specimen / Photograph will be Required.

Recorded in 24 (12%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1859. Last Recorded in 2024. Additional Stats

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