Hantsmoths

Vulnerable (proposed as a future Red Data Book species) in field edges, scrubland and grassy slopes in parts of south-eastern England, where first recorded in Surrey in 1847 and later found in several south-eastern counties; modern records are scattered, mainly in East Anglia and Kent, and was found in Surrey in 2023; it is probably more widespread than records suggest. In our area, there is one record for Hampshire, an adult taken at light in Portsmouth in 2004. Wingspan 13-17.5 mm. Like many of the Coleophora, imagines are virtually impossible to identify without recourse to dissection, and the larvae, which live in cases of characteristic form and which can sometimes be found on the foodplant, may be easier to identify by comparison against a reference collection. Larva mines leaves of Common Knapweed, living within a movable case.

VC11 South Hampshire