Sophronia semicostella
White-shouldered Sober
White-shouldered Goundling
Wingspan about 18 mm. A rather attractive and distinctive-looking Gelechiid, having a strong white costal streak, tufted labial palps and noticeably banded cilia in fresh specimens.
Good photograph required.
Grassland, sometimes in open woodland.
The adult moths fly in June and July in the afternoon, but are also on the wing from dusk when they are attracted to light.
The larval stages have yet to be fully described, but Sweet Vernal-grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum) is believed to be the probable foodplant.
It is distributed throughout most of England and Wales but can be rather scarce in many areas. In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as local.
Infrequently recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland.
David Robinson
Charnwood Lodge NNR
14 July 2021
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Species profile
- Common names
- White-shouldered Sober
- Species group:
- Moths
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
- Order:
- Lepidoptera
- Family:
- Gelechiidae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 2
- First record:
- 14/07/2021 (Robinson, David)
- Last record:
- 21/06/2022 (Cranston, Elspeth)
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