The Moths of Suffolk
812 Scrobipalpa instabilella, (Douglas, 1846)
National Status : Nationally Scarce B

Local Status : Resident (SMP Status 3)

Distribution and abundance : Locally common

Habitats : Salt-marshes,mudflats and banks of tidal rivers

Flight Period : Single-brooded, May to July

Larval foodplants : Sea-purslane (Atriplex portulacoides) and occasionally other foodplants

Morley's Final Catalogue : Found among Atriplex, whose leaves it eats. Southwold in 1897 (Crutwell).

Identification

Confusion species
    AdultScrobipalpa suaedellaScrobipalpa samadensis
Scrobipalpa salinellaScrobipalpa ocellatella, Beet Moth
Scrobipalpa nitentellaScrobipalpa atriplicella
Scrobipalpula diffluella

Compare confusion species
    Adult

See Also :

Click to view full size image
Confirmed by dissection. - Ipswich, Suffolk (vii.2008) © Neil Sherman

Flight chart
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Life history chart
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Further Photographs

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Larval mine and spinning on Sea Purslane - Hemley, Suffolk (3.iv.2006) © A Prichard
Confirmed by Jon Clifton by dissection - Ipswich, Suffolk (viii.2011) © Neil Sherman
(Gen.det. Jon Clifton) - Iken Cliff, Suffolk (21.vi.2015) © Paul Kitchener