Key to Text Moths of Northamptonshire

Key to Map
  Small Black Arches Meganola strigula  
         
  Status: Vagrant.

Distribution and Abundance: Rare.

Record: 9 August 1980 Weedon (R. Baylis).

Observations: The first county record of this moth was taken in a garden m.v. light trap on 9 August 1980. The record only came to light when old data was being processed for submission for the National Moth Recording Scheme. This Nationally Notable species is reported in Waring & Townsend as being, "very local and declining," reported from southern counties as far north as Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. The moth prefers to inhabit older woodland and mature parkland where its larval foodplant (Pedunculate Oak) exists. The origin of this particular specimen is therefore unclear as the garden is some distance away from such habitat.

First Record: 1980, Baylis.