Hantsmoths

An increasingly common migrant from southern Europe, appearing in southern England for the first time in Dorset in 2001, but only identified from a set specimen during 2004, a year which saw an influx of some eight moths of this previously unrecorded species. In Hampshire the first was trapped at Cheriton Wood, vice-county 12, on 31 July 2004, and the second at Southsea, vice-county 11, on 16 August 2004 - these were the second and third British records. Subsequently recorded at Waterlooville on 6 August 2005 and at Beaulieu on 30 July 2006, both in vice-county 11. The Isle of Wight had to wait until 2018 for its first record, and since that year it has been recorded annually, sometimes multiple times, in both counties. Wingspan 26-30 mm. Some poorly marked specimens resemble f. carthami of Purple Marbled E. ostrina, however the postmedian fascia which bisects the purple distal half of the wing in Beautiful Marbled is absent in Purple Marbled. Larva feeds on Creeping Thistle, no evidence of breeding in the UK.

VC10 Isle of Wight

VC11 South Hampshire

VC12 North Hampshire