Description: Wingspan 22-28mm. An attractive moth. The forewings are white with 3 dark brown patches on each wing - at the base, on the costa and at the apex. There is also a pale smoky grey band on the outer margin of both wings. From mid-July to early September.

Irish Distribution: Widely distributed and frequently encountered in parts of north Armagh including Brackagh Moss NNR, Oxford Island NNR, Slieve Gullion and Peatlands Park. Also recorded in Down from Seaforde, Castle Espie, Bohill and Belvoir Park. Elsewhere, much scarcer with just scattered populations including Reilly Wood NNR and Florencecourt in Fermanagh, Rehaghy Mountain, Tyrone and Rathlin Island, Antrim.

Ecology: A pretty species that inhabits fens, bogs, damp woodland and other marshy areas. Adults appear not to be attracted to light and have been seen flying past, apparently ignoring, actinic traps. They become active around dusk and have been observed in good numbers flying along woodland rides and clearings where they can be easily taken with a net. They are occasionally disturbed during the day from trees and shrubs along woodlands paths and margins. The larvae feed on Alder Alnus glutinosa, birch Betula spp. and Blackthorn Prunus spinosa. It overwinters as an egg attached to the branches of the foodplant.

Key Identification Features:

• Dark brown basal area
• Dark brown patches near costa on forewing
• Grey band along the outer margin of the forewings

Distribution Map from NBN: Plemyria rubiginata at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Plemyria rubiginata at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.