Metalampra italica

Wingspan about 12 to 14 mm.  The adults are quite distinctive with a golden brown ground colour and paler markings.

Metalampra cinnamomea which has so far not been recorded locally is similar, but has a darker ground colour in the forewing.

Good supporting image(s) required please.

Formerly only encountered as a migrant but now believed to be breeding in parts of the UK. It is associated with Oak.

June to August or September.

The larvae feed in the dead or decaying wood of oak.

This species was encountered in Britain for the first time in 2003, in Devon. Since then it has been found in at least a dozen counties in the south of England and Wales, and is now believed to be a breeding resident and spreading rapidly. In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as migrant colonist.

Rare in Leicestershire and Rutland, but may be spreading into our area.