Musotima nitidalis
Marbled Fern
This species has a multi shaded brown forewing with white marks and is quite distinctive.
(but please provide photograph)
Because this species is still rare in our area a photograph is required to support your record.
Most records in Britain are from the period May to November.
This species is associated with ferns. The larva feeds on the underside of a frond of Bracken, Broad Buckler-fern or Hard Fern and perhaps other ferns. It pupates spun to the underside of a frond.
The first British record came from Dorset in 2009. It has since spread, firstly alond some southern coastal areas, but probably now moving further north. In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as adventive.
Rare in VC55 (Leicestershire and Rutland) A record from Charnwood Lodge on 15th October 2024 was the first from our area.
63.1181 BF1355a
Sean Browne
Charnwood Lodge
15 October 2024
1st for VC55
Ryder Hurn
Osbaston, Leicestershire
16 October 2025
tony p
Garden on mansfield street quorn
02 November 2024
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Species profile
- Common names
- Marbled Fern
- Species group:
- insect - moth
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
- Order:
- Lepidoptera
- Family:
- Crambidae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 3
- First record:
- 15/10/2024 (Browne, Sean)
- Last record:
- 16/10/2025 (Ryder Hurn)
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% of records within its species group
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