Hantsmoths

Rare on rough ground in parts of Wales and north-western England. Taken in Kent in 2017, since when it has increasingly been recorded as a migrant from many counties in southern England and is now probably established as a localised breeding species in some areas. Hampshire's first record was in 2024 (details in prep) and the first for Wight occurred in 2025. Wingspan 15-17 mm. Differs from C. rosaceana by its comparatively broad forewing in which the general coloration is olive-brown or ferruginous-brown compared with the much paler and distinctly pinkish coloration of C. rosaceana; in C. rufana the median fascia of the forewing is never so strongly developed as in C. striana [Bradley]. As published by Heckford and Beaven in the Entomologist's Gazette 63: 217-221 (2012), the larva fed on decaying leaves of Taraxacum officinale agg., except for a short period, and not on the roots of certain Asteraceae species as given in the literature.