Elusive even in its known haunts on the heaths of southern England, the Speckled Footman moth has always been something of a mystery to conservationists. Here, Durwyn Liley and coauthors describe how painstaking fieldwork over recent years has gradually helped to reveal this species’ secrets and, hopefully, built a firmer foundation for its conservation.
The Speckled Footman Coscinia cribraria is one of Britain’s rarest moths. The native British subspecies, bivittata, which is the focus of this article, is restricted to the New Forest and Dorset heaths (occasional migrants of the continental subspecies arenaria have also been recorded from coastal localities in southern England).