Hantsmoths

Naturalised through accidental introduction. Originally a native of Madeira, now naturalised, but how it reached Britain remains a mystery. The first British specimen was taken in Hampshire at mercury-vapour light on 17 July 1998 near Bishop's Waltham in a meadow between a housing estate and a stream bordered by an area of damp woodland. A further two were found at the same locality on 27 July 2001, proving that the species is breeding there, and the species has subsequently spread in range to be one of the more common micro-moths in southern Hampshire, now reaching into the north, and reached the Isle of Wight in 2022.