Photo: Oliver Wadsworth
Taxonomic Order
The publication of the Checklist of the Lepidoptera of the British Isles, D. J. L. Agassiz, S. D. Beavan and R. J. Heckford, in December 2013 (as ammended and updated in the Ent. Rec. 128: 50-55, 128: 94-98, 131: 1-7 and 132: 2-7) has introduced changes in the taxonomic order and a completely new numbering system. This website reflects the Checklist order/numbers but, for the sake of continuity, the numbers from the Checklist of Lepidoptera Recorded from the British Isles, Second Edition (Revised), J. D. Bradley, 2000 have been retained in parenthesis.
Significant changes affecting the Gelechiidae introduced by the Checklist and its ammendments/updates are:
1) Sophronia humerella has been removed from the British list with records considered doubtful.
2) British records of Scrobipalpa salinella (now considered to be a Southern European species) are believed to refer to Scrobipalpa salicorniae (see Huemer, P. & Karsholt, O., 2010, Microlepidoptera of Europe 6: 180-182) and this name has been adopted. It should however be noted that the distinction between these two species still has to be confirmed by DNA studies. Bred specimens of S. salicorniae would be welcomed by the Scheme organisers to aid such research with full site, date and recorder information together with details of the food-plant utilised.
3) The genus Syncopacma has been synonymised with Aproaerema as from Feb. 2019.
4) The genus Eulamprotes has been synonymised with Oxypteryx as from Feb. 2020.
Status and Distribution
The provisional status of each species is taken from those proposed in Davis, A. M., A Review of the status of Microlepidoptera in Britain, Butterfly Conservation, Wareham, 2012 (Butterfly Conservation Report No. S12 - 02). The Distribution statement on this website is based on records received by the scheme and the national vice county distribution maps maintained by Tony Davis and George Tordoff.
Foodplant and larval feeding signs
Much of the information in this section has been sourced from The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland Volume 4 (Part 2) and updated with more recently published papers, notes and books as well as comments included within the data submitted to the scheme. References abbreviated in this and other sections can be found on this site in the Publications section.
Foodplants reported from Europe are taken from The Microlepidoptera of Europe series, Vol 3 - Gelechiidae I and Vol 6 - Gelechiidae II by P. Huemer and O. Karsholt, supplemented, for species not covered in those volumes, by Die Palpenmotten Mitteleuropas by G. Elsner, P. Huemer and Z. Tokar and more recently published papers.
Scientific names for plants listed on this site are sourced from Stace, C., New Flora of the British Isles, Fourth Edition 2019.
Maps
There are two distribution maps associated with each species, the Species Distribution Map (SDM) on the first page of each species and available for all species, and the Larval Foodplant Distribution Map - LFDM (in the Feeding section), where the larval foodplant in the British Isles is known and available. The SDMs show distribution at a 10km level irrespective of the accuracy of the full grid reference available to the Scheme.
The data supporting these maps is updated on a bi-annual basis (usually in the Spring) and both maps are provided courtesy of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
Photographs
All photographs on this site are used with the kind permission of the photographers credited. These Photographers retain the copyright for the photographs and their permission should be saught for their use elsewhere.
Bar graphs
These show, in a simplified format, the months in which the larva and imago can be found while more detailed information on flight periods can be found in the accompanying text.
Data Protection Legislation
The Gelechiid Recording Scheme accepts records on the basis that they may be collated and disseminated manually or electronically, including via the Internet, for conservation, environmental decision-making, education, research and other public benefit uses in accordance with Butterfly Conservation’s data access policy.
Names and contact details of recorders will be used for administration and verification purposes only. Your contact details will not be passed to other parties without your consent, whilst your name will form part of the record that is collated and disseminated in accordance with Butterfly Conservation’s privacy policy.