Photo © Keith Tailby

Marbled Clover

Heliothis viriplaca

Checklist Number
73.072 [B&F: 2401]

Verification
Record will require further evidence, at least a good photograph, unless CMR is aware recorder has confidence in identification

Classification

Family:Noctuidae
Subfamily:Heliothinae
Genus:Heliothis
Species:viriplaca
Authority:(Hufnagel, 1766)

A rare Red Data Book species, on chalk downland in south-eastern England. Resident very locally from the Breckland to Hampshire, Wiltshire and east Gloucestershire, but it appears to have become very much scarcer in recent times. It still appears to be well established in parts of Breckland, though its habitat there has also been restricted by the planting of conifers and increasingly intensive agriculture. There is a wide scatter of singletons from south and east England that are probably immigrants. In Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight the species decline since the 1950s is probably due to the ploughing of downland slopes and the mowing of clover fields for silage earlier in the summer. Nowadays, occasional specimens are reported at light on or near chalk downland. Whether these are representatives of a tiny surviving resident population or immigrants is uncertain. In the past, the moth was found more often though irregularly in such habitat, which was then more extensive. Wingspan 34-37 mm. Larva feeds on flowers and seedheads of Common Restharrow, Spiny Restharrow, Common Toadflax, White Campion, Bladder Campion, Wild Carrot, Smooth Hawk's-beard, Red Clover and Sticky Groundsel, over-wintering as a pupa.

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)

No Larval records to show.

VC8 Wiltshire (Hants county)

Site Date Quantity Recorder Stage
Martin Down NNR (SU01)28/07/1976oneRichard J DicksonAdult

VC10 Isle of Wight

Site Date Quantity Recorder Stage
Whippingham (SZ59)1856oneIWGAdult
St. Lawrence (SZ57)1900-W FassnidgeAdult
Freshwater (SZ38)27/07/1985-Sam Knill-JonesAdult
Freshwater (SZ38)13/08/1996oneSam Knill-JonesAdult
Freshwater (SZ38)16/08/1996oneSam Knill-JonesAdult

VC11 South Hampshire

Site Date Quantity Recorder Stage
NF (SU20)8604oneMarcus OldfieldAdult
NF (SU30)9321oneMarcus OldfieldAdult
Leckford (SU33)1947-D H Sterling-
Winchester (SU43)16/07/1986-D H SterlingAdult
Winchester (SU43)17/07/1986-D H SterlingAdult
Sparsholt (SU43)20/07/1989oneTony DobsonAdult
Timsbury (SU32)1994-David ThelwellAdult
Wood Crates, NF (SU20)19/08/1995oneJohn ChaineyAdult
Broughton Down (SU23)1996-Norman BinstedAdult
Fareham (SU50)08/08/2004oneKeith WheelerAdult
Hill Head (SU50)27/07/2010oneMark J PalmerAdult
Mottisfont (SU32)01/08/2010oneSusan A ClarkeAdult
Portchester (SU60)02/08/2010oneJon StokesAdult

VC12 North Hampshire

Site Date Quantity Recorder Stage
Leckford Estate (SU33)1947-Anon-
Leckford Estate (SU33)30/07/1976oneRichard J DicksonAdult
Stockbridge Down (SU33)15/07/1995oneG A CollinsAdult
Stockbridge Down (SU33)15/07/1995oneGraham A CollinsAdult
Stockbridge Down (SU33)20/08/1996oneBrian FletcherAdult
Magdalen Hill Down NR (SU52)22/08/1997onePhil BuddAdult
Magdalen Hill Down NR (SU52)22/08/1997oneDavid G Green & Phil BuddAdult
Danebury Hill SSSI (SU33)10/07/1999oneTim Norriss, John Chainey, Ray CookAdult
Cholderton (SU24)01/09/2004oneHenry EdmundsAdult
Cholderton (SU24)04/06/2007oneHenry EdmundsAdult
Goodworth Clatford (SU34)06/08/2010oneWill Liddell, Tim NorrissAdult
Leckford (SU33)21/06/2015oneJamie AlisonAdult