Splendid Brocade Lacanobia splendens

Wingspan c.35 mm.

This central and southern European species was first identified from a specimen captured at Portland, Dorset, on 1 July 2003. It subsequently transpired that several earlier records of the species from a range of southern English localities had been unidentified.

The species has since been recorded on a number of occasions, usually from southern coastal locations.

Abroad, it frequents damp woodland and forests, and flies in June and July.

The larvae feed on a number of plants including bindweed (Calystegia and Convolvulus), and bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara).