Noctuidae

73.064 Mouse Moth Amphipyra tragopoginis (Clerck, 1759)

Common

Similar species: The arrangement of the three dark spots on a plain brown wing is distinctive.

Forewing: 16 to 18mm

Habitats: Deciduous woodland, scrub, hedgerows, green lanes, moorland, marshes, fens, sand-dunes and gardens.

Habits: The moth visits flowers after dark and comes to sugar and light.

Foodplant: The polyphagous larva feeds nocturnally on Hawthorn, sallows, poplars, Goat's-beard, Salad Burnet, Wild Strawberry, teasels, Mugwort, Fennel, Dandelion, plantains, Californian Poppy and many other woody and herbaceous plants. It pupates in a soil-covered cocoon in the leaf litter or just under the soil.

On the European mainland it has also been recorded feeding on oaks, Mugwort, Field Wormwood, Wild Carrot, Round-headed Rampion, crane's-bills, bedstraws, mulleins, willowherbs and sorrels.