Yorkshire Status: Local resident.
This is a smaller, neater and brighter version of Foxglove Pug. Inexperienced moth recorders often have trouble separating the two, and we are often sent photographs asking which it is. The answer is usually Foxglove Pug, but occasionally it is difficult to be sure. Toadflax Pug is rather local in county and rarely occurs far from its foodplant, common toadflax.The presence or absence of the two food plants can be useful in separating these two species. It also tends to fly a little later. Records in May are usually Foxglove Pug. Numbers seem to have declined a little recently, possibly partly due to our obsession with tidying up the countryside and building on brownfield sites. Larvae can be found in toadflax flowers in August and September but few people look for them.
Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: As with most Eupithecia species this is probably under-recorded. However, it is probably fairly common wherever wild toadflax is established on wasteground, railway embankments and similar areas in all five vice-counties, especially in the south and east. Recorded in 73 (37%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1883. Last Recorded in 2023. Additional Stats |