Hantsmoths

Nationally scarce (Nb) in heathland, scrub and woodland in England and Wales, as far north as Westmorland and Co. Durham, and in Scotland, where it is recorded from Kirkcudbrightshire and Perthshire (MBGBI Vol 4 part 1). In Hampshire formerly fairly frequent locally in the New Forest, where the larva could be found in rolled leaves of Bog Myrtle, likely to be principally in the Matley Bog area (although old records are non-specific as to location): its continued unbroken presence, despite a lack of records for over fifty years was demonstrated by subsequent findings in 1982 and 2006, and it likely continues to be present here. One which landed on a car windscreen at midday at Fort Widley, Portsmouth in 2021 perhaps indicates a previously undiscovered population of this secretive insect. On the Isle of Wight, Goater (1974) has a vague reference to one specimen of unknown location in Fassnidge's list of the 1930s, 'teste Ford' - the only specific record dates from 1973. Wingspan male 17-20 mm, female 6-10 mm. The males fly in sunshine around midday on warm days and assemble to the flightless females. Larva polyphagous on Bog-myrtle, Sallow, Blackthorn, Meadowsweet, Silverweed, Bramble and Buckthorn, living between leaves spun together with silk, over-wintering as a pupa.

VC10 Isle of Wight

VC11 South Hampshire