| Sub-family:EXORISTINAE |
Tribe: GONIINI |
|
| Synonyms: capitata (DeGeer, 1776 - Musca)
[=trifaria Zeller, 1842] |
|
| Shaw & Ford (1991): - |
| Belshaw (1993): Hosts: in Europe: larvae of Agrotis spp (6) and Euxoa obelisca (1) (both Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Noctuinae). In Britain an old record from Ceramica pisi (Audcent, 1942).
British distribution: S.England (Dorset, Hants, Berks, Sussex and Kent) and Ireland (Finner sandhills, Bundoran in Donegal*).
Habitat: U.K. localities are grassland, usually near coasts, with some sites referring to chalk downland (Falk, in press).
Flight period: late July and August (31 records). |
| Tschorsnig (1994): [Salmacia]. Europe to Scandinavia; NS NW HE BW BY NB / A. Dry meadows. End June to Early September 1 generation. Visits flowers; usually rare. Agrotis exclamationis L A. segetum Schiff A. ypsilon Hufn Euxoa obelisca Schiff. (Noctuidae). |
| JNCC Calypterate Review (1996): DISTRIBUTION Southern England: Dorset (Durlston Head, 1946; Swanage Cliffs, 1951); Hants (Ashley and Farley Downs, 1929-1935, 1952); Sussex (Arundel, 1954); Kent (Deal, 1950; Ashford, 1945; Sandwich Bay, 1950, 1951; Faversham, 1946); Berks (Belshaw 1993).
HABITAT Grassland, usually near the coast, but some inland localities are clearly calcareous downland.
ECOLOGY Reared from the caterpillars of noctuid moths (Lepidoptera), especially Agrotis species, which feed on a wide range of herbaceous plants. Adults in July and August.
STATUS No records since 1954 (Arundel). Members of the genus Gonia are large, distinctive species unlikely to be overlooked, so there seems to have been a genuine decline in this species. Eggs are laid on specific caterpillar food plants, rather than directly on the caterpillars themselves, and the loss of such plants growing in appropriate conditions may be the crucial factor underlying the decline, though a decline in the abundance of the host moths cannot be ruled out.
THREAT A change in the grazing regime of grassland: either overgrazing, or the cessation of grazing leading to scrub invasion and a reduction in the richness and diversity of the vegetation; also the encroachment of intensive agriculture or forestry.
MANAGEMENT Use rotational management policies to produce a mosaic of vegetation types on grassland and prevent scrub invasion. |
| Shaw & Ford (2000): - |
| Comments: - |
| GBGRB: P |
GBNI: - |
IE: P |
GBCI: - |
| BRC #: 8401 |
BENHS: 4.2 12 |
GB Status: |
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|
| Legend: GBGRB=Great Britain, GBNI=Northern Ireland, IE=Ireland,
GBCI=Channel Islands (P=present or -=absent); BENHS indicates whether the BENHS
collection has it and which draw/column it is in. Status is taken from the JNCC
Calypterate Review (1996) and the JNCC Recorder package (1997). Synonyms were
taken from a number of sources but most notably the most recent Checklist of
British Diptera by Peter Chandler. |
| Acknowledgements: Many thanks to all the authors who let me
use their information to construct this database. If there are spelling mistakes
they were introduced by me during transcription and should not reflect on the
original authors. |
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