Photo © Dave Cooke

Oak Rustic

Dryobota labecula

Checklist Number
73.223 [B&F: 2246a]

Verification
Record will be accepted (subject to date and location checks)

Classification

Family:Noctuidae
Subfamily:Xyleninae
Genus:Dryobota
Species:labecula
Authority:(Esper, 1788)

This species was found in Jersey in 1991 and is now established on Evergreen (Holm) Oak in the Channel Islands. First recorded in Britain at Freshwater, Isle of Wight, on 15 October 1999, and now annual in Freshwater and Ventnor in reasonable numbers, although only one confirmed larval record exists, from Fort Victoria in 2006; subsequently appearing in mainland Hampshire on 15 October 2005, and increasingly thereafter along the south coast: there have been two larval records to 2015. Wingspan 30-32 mm. The main confusion species are certain forms of Common Rustic Mesapamea secalis and Lesser Common Rustic Mesapamea didyma, but Oak Rustic usually has orange (occasionally white) reniform stigmata and flies very late in the season.

The abundance in each month is indicated as follows:

No records
Very occasional
Irregular
Uncommon
Off-peak, but not unusual
Off-peak, but not unusual
Main flight time
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Adult
Larval

Records by week (adult)

Records by week (larval)