73.077 BF2398

Pease Blossom Periphanes delphinii

(Linnaeus, 1758)

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Wingspan 34-36 mm.

The evidence that this beautiful species was ever resident in Britain is inconclusive. There are several records from southern England in the 19th Century, the last from Hampshire in 1890, but none since.

On the Continent, it is mainly associated with untreated cereal crops among which the usual foodplant, Consolida regalis, grows.

Modern agricultural practice may have contributed to its decline, but it France, at least as far north as the Loire valley, it has adapted to garden Delphiniums, and it is just possible that current climatic change could enable it to reappear in Britain.

The moth flies in May and June, the larva feeds in July and August and the pupa overwinters.

(Description: Barry Goater)