Micropterix aureatella
Yellow-barred Gold
Wingspan 9 to 11 mm. A rather attractive little moth, in common with other similar species, has metallic purplish forewings. There are two whitish cross bands and a large pale spot towards the end of the wing.
Found in woodland and heathland.
May and June.
The adults are among those moths with working mandibles, and they feed on the pollen of a variety of flowers, especially those of sedge (Carex).
Distributed widely but locally over Great Britain, very scarce in the east of the country. In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as local.
It appears to be uncommon in Leicestershire and Rutland, where there were no known records since the early 1900s until the one in 2013 from Martinshaw Wood. L&R Moth Group status = D (rare or rarely recorded).
Lindsi Donovan
Charnwood Lodge NR
03 June 2021
Photo by Kate Nightingale
HAPeacock
Martinshaw Wood
31 May 2013
Lindsi Donovan
Charnwood Lodge NR
03 June 2021
Photo by Kate Nightingale
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Species profile
- Common names
- Yellow-barred Gold
- Species group:
- Moths
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
- Order:
- Lepidoptera
- Family:
- Micropterigidae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 3
- First record:
- 31/05/2013 (Peacock, H A)
- Last record:
- 26/05/2023 (Higgott, Mike)
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% of records within its species group
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