18.002 BF465a

Plutella haasi

Staudinger, 1883

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Wingspan c. 15mm.

This extremely rare and local species was only known in Britain from one specimen taken in 1954 at Benn Eighe, Wester Ross, until the illustrated adult, one of several found, was photographed at the same locality by Bob Heckford in 2009.

Subsequent searching in 2009 and 2010 found larvae in several locations in North-west Scotland, feeding in silken spinnings on Northern rock-cress (Arabidopsis petraea). A number of larvae were successfully reared in captivity and the discoveries and biology are described in Entomologists Gazette (2011).

Larvae are now known to occur from at least September through to May, and adults were observed on the wing in July.

In mainland Europe, it is to be found in a handful of localities in Norway and Sweden.