UKMoths Mompha miscella - Distribution map
Please note that the NBN Gateway map service has been terminated as of 1 April 2017.
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.
40.012 BF884
Mompha miscella
([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775)
Wingspan 7-9 mm.
The distribution of this moth follows that of its foodplants; rockroses (Helianthemum spp.), which are confined to limestone and chalk in southern Britain, but extend onto slightly acid soils in N.E. England and E. Scotland. It is usually a common moth, wherever its foodplants occur. Its absence from Ireland is accounted for by the extreme rarity there, of Helianthemum spp..
The adults fly in two generations, primarily May-mid June, and mid July-August, but specimens can be found any time from late April to early October. Adults can often be taken in a fine meshed net by day, if the foodplants or nearby low vegetation are disturbed.
The larva mines the leaves of Helianthemum. Initially a gallery is made and filled with frass. It is widened abruptly into a blotch, which absorbs the gallery and may occupy the whole leaf. The frass may then be dispersed or heaped in the blotch. A larva may mine more than one leaf before it vacates the mine to pupate in a silk cocoon among leaf litter. The larval stage occurs in October-April and in June-July.
More images
