Reported as new for Britain when it was reared from a fig tree Ficus carica in Hyde Park, London, July 2014 (de Prins, Ent Rec J Var 126:157). Now expanding in range across the south of England.
In our area, found for the first time on 5th November 2021, when Iain Outlaw found the pupae of this species on Fig (Ficus carica) in the front garden of a now abandoned hotel in Shanklin, in leaves with feeding signs and folded edges. Inside the folds there were tough silk cocoons with an outer layer binding to the leaf and an inner layer containing a pupa. At the end of the inner layer was the final larval skin. One folded leaf showed an exuxium, presumably left when the adult emerged. That cocoon was examined and found to be vacated. Found to be relatively common around the coast of the island in 2022, and further expansion saw the first record for Hampshire in 2023, near Lymington, and a number more in 2024 along the south coast.