Ashworth’s Rustic is a species of moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

. Its colouring is blue/grey and it is mainly nocturnal.

Life cycle

There is one generation in Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 from mid June to August. They are in their larval stage from August to late May of June the next year, feeding mainly by night, but sometimes basking by day in the spring. There are many larval foodplants, usually low growing plants, including Common Rock-rose, Wild Thyme

Wild thyme

Thymus serpyllum, known by the common names of Breckland Thyme, Wild Thyme or Creeping Thyme is a species of thyme native to most of Europe and North Africa. It is a low, usually prostrate subshrub growing to 2 cm tall with creeping stems up to 10 cm long, with oval evergreen leaves...

, Sheep's Sorrel, Harebell

Harebell

Campanula rotundifolia is a rhizomatous perennial flowering plant in the bellflower family native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.In Scotland, it is often known as the Bluebell...

, Salad Burnet

Salad Burnet

Sanguisorba minor is a plant in the family Rosaceae that is native to western, central and southern Europe; northwest Africa and southwest Western Asia; and which has naturalized in most of North America...

, Bell heather

Erica cinerea

Erica cinerea is a species of heather, native to western and central Europe. It is a low shrub growing to tall, with fine needle-like leaves long arranged in whorls of three...

, Goldenrod

Goldenrod

Solidago, commonly called goldenrods, is a genus of about 100 species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Most are herbaceous perennial species found in the meadows and pastures, along roads, ditches and waste areas in North America. There are also a few species native to Mexico, South...

, Lady's Bedstraw, Creeping Willow and Foxglove

Digitalis purpurea

Digitalis purpurea , is a flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae , native to most of Europe.-Description:...

. It pupates in a flimsy cocoon under moss, among rocks or just below ground.

Habitat

It is found on many geological strata including slate, limestone, on hillsides, quarries and sometimes on mountain slopes. Larva are most commonly found on south-facing slopes.

Subspecies

• Xestia ashworthii ashworthii has a wingspan of 35-40 mm (mountainous areas of Wales)
• Xestia ashworthii candelarum (Staudinger 1871) (central Europe from the Pyrenees to the Alps, east to Sibiria and Tibet)
• Xestia ashworthii lactescens (Turati 1919) has a wingspan of 42-46 mm (central Italy)
• Xestia ashworthii jotunensis (Schoyen 1887) (Fennoscandia and the Baltic region)

External links

• Biodiversity of Snowdonia National Park