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As soon as a replacement map service is available, distribution maps will hopefully appear here again.
In the meantime, you can get some idea of distribution from the NBN Atlas website.
32.008 BF709
Agonopterix liturosa
(Haworth, 1811)
Wingspan 17-20 mm.
Reasonably common in England and Wales, becoming less so into Scotland. Also recorded in southern Ireland.
One of the more distinctive Agonopterix species, with its combination of well-marked purplish-brown forewings and buffish thorax and head.
The larva feeds on St. Johns-wort (Hypericum spp.), spinning together the shoots and feeding within.
The normal flight period for the adults is July to August, when the species is attracted to light.
- Larva: (description Ian F. Smith):
Foodplant: May - June in spun shoots of Hypericum spp.
Length: 13 mm described.
Head: Yellowish brown. Dark brown posterolateral mark. Stemmata linked by black curved mark.
Prothoracic shield: Translucent tinted yellowish brown, mixed with greenish colour of body when head extended. Divided by a dark-edged paler medial line, which is flared at posterior, and does not quite reach the anterior.
Thoracic legs: Translucent yellowish brown.
Body: Whitish grey-green with a silky sheen. Contractile vessel shows as dark green dorsal line.
Spiracles: Black. Prothoracic spiracle large, and obvious as only black mark on T1.
Pinacula: Small. Black. Largest on dorsum of A9.
Setae: Translucent.
Anal plate: Translucent tinted yellowish brown, showing green of body.
Prolegs: Yellowish. Large lateral sclerite on anal proleg; yellowish brown translucent (showing green).
Similar species
Lathronympha strigana makes a similar spinning on Hypericum spp, but its prothoracic shield is black.
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