70.104 BF1751

Devon Carpet Lampropteryx otregiata

(Metcalfe, 1917)

Wingspan 27-30 mm.

Formerly a relatively scarce species, found mainly in the south and south-west of England and south Wales. In recent years there has been a considerable range expansion from the south-west which has seen this moth reported in numbers from Lancashire, Cumbria, Suffolk and several midland counties.

There are two generations, with adults on the wing in May and June, then again in August and September.

The caterpillars are brown with paler buff markings, and feed on common marsh bedstraw (Galium palustre) and possibly also fen bedstraw (Galium uliginosum).