Tawny Speckled Pug - Eupithecia icterata

Wingspan 20 to 23 mm. One of our largest Eupithecia species. Typically the moth shows the fairly plain, two-tone reddish and brown appearance of the subspecies fulvata but in northern parts a more variegated race cognata occurs.

Areas where the food plants are found.

July and August is the main flight time for this usually single-brooded species.

The foodplants are Yarrow and Sneezewort, the caterpillars eating the flowers as well as the leaves.

Occurring widely and often commonly throughout most of Britain. In a recent survey to determine the status of all macro moths in Britain this species was classified as common.

Once fairly common in Leicestershire and Rutland, numbers have declined and it has become rather scarce recently.