Extinct endemic subspecies of British Moths.

I would just like to mentioned that there is not a single verified instance that a species or subspecies has become extinct by over collecting  in Britain and that habitat change, often by mismanagement is to blame. If one reads my article in Moths and Memories, you can see that changes in woodland habitat management was the cause of many local extinctions in the forest where I collected. I feel that the New Forest Burnet Moth although it was quite common in several areas, was vulnerable to changes in woodland practices because it occurred in small colonies. Changes in woodland practices will quickly lead to overgrown clearings and rides. During the first World War much of the mature Oak timber of the New Forest was cut and much Beech plantation replaced it, which shades out all light. Although many Oakwoods in the New Forest remain, most consist today of younger trees. In all the other extinct endemic subspecies of Britain that I have studied, habitat loss by changes in grazing by livestock and other changes in their environment has led to all the extinctions. Extinction whether we like it or not may be part of evolution itself. For all losses their are many gains of new species to our moth fauna. It is good to remember Britain has around 2550 species of moths. One member once said that Britain was a ecological desert, however it would take a lifetime of happy collecting to acquire all of its moth species, those than are not protected of course. Those specimens shown such as those of Zygaena viciae ytenensis in this thread are a very valuable resource for study.  Peter.

As far as I am aware, all of these moths are either extinct or super rare in the British isles.

I must have posted the wrong picture Peter, I bought one from Tony Harman a couple of years ago, I will try and find the picture, my white prominents are Irish, I got them from Newark fair a few years ago, really pleased to get the black veined moths too.

The discovery of Zygaena viciae ytenensis the New Forest Burnet Moth in Britain.

For those that are interested in the extinct British endemic Zygaena viciae ytenensis , I have further information that I would like to share on its early history. As you would have guessed, I do find the history and biology of these extinct moths really fascinating.

It seems, according to most books, the New Forest Burnet was discovered in the New Forest in Stubby Copse during 1869. The first references that I have yet been able to trace of the discovery of this little burnet moth is from the 1871-1872 volume of the' Entomologist', that esteemed journal of the Entomological society of London. It seems that three London lepidopterists on separate occasions in June and early July of 1871 almost simultaneously collected this species in New Forest of Hampshire. All three men recognized that this small burnet moth was different, but at first thought they captured dwarf forms of the Five-spot Burnet moth [ Zygaena trifolii ]. On 29th June, in 1871, a Mr Boden visited Stubby Copse to look for specimens of another rarity the Reddish Buff [ Acosmetia caliginosa]  of the Noctuidae family, a species that takes flight when disturbed from vegetation during the day. During his search he noticed some small burnet moths which he collected, but took for diminutive specimens of Z. trifolii. It seems highly likely that Stubby Copse was a favourite haunt of visiting collectors looking for rare species to add to their collections. The New Forest Burnet had remained undetected because it flew with and it closely resembles  Z. trifolii. Another interesting point is that the main headquarters of the Reddish Buff was in the New Forest. A. caliginosa also disappeared from the New Forest where it was confined to the same type of habitat frequented by Z.viciae. The larvae of A. caliginosa feed solely on Saw-Wort Serratula tinctoria, a plant that needs very open situations and for this moth to have also disappeared in the early twenty century, it seems to be a good indication that there were changes to the habitat which did not suit either species.  The foodplants of the New Forest Burnet moth were the common Lotus comiculatus and Lathytus pratensis from the Leguminosae family, that will only thrive in open sunny places and not in shady woodland. Tremewan mention of heavy collecting pressure, was unlikely to have come from individual collectors, but possibly he had accounts of a few unscrupulous dealers. Another British endemic Burnet moth Z. exulans subochracea was discovered during the same period during 1871 on a Mountain near Braemar in Scotland and this was the only known locality for many years. For well over a hundred years collectors made their pilgrimage to Braemar to collect the Scotch Burnet moth, which was very local on the mountain where it was to be found flying in an open moorland habitat and it never occurred in large numbers. In spite of all this attention by collectors, Z. exulans continues to fly on its ' lonely mountain '  simply because there has been no changes to its habitat.

In July of 1871, W.H. Tugwell was looking over the moths in a  Mr J. Gulliver collection at Brokenhurst in the New Forest, when he noticed some small burnet moths, that had been taken two weeks previously in late June. Visiting the locality himself Tugwell took a couple of specimens of Z. viciae, but mentions the moths were now worn and mostly going over,  at first he also took them for small Z. trifolii. Earlier in the month, E. Harper went on a collecting trip to the New Forest where he took nine perfect specimens of Z. viciae that again he first thought be be a variety of Z. trifolii, but on examining them in his rooms, he decided they might be something new and decided to take them to one of the leading Entomologists of the day, Henry Doubleday of Epping. Doubleday at once declared them to be the European Zygaena melilothi [ Esper 1789 ], a species that he had suggested might be found one day in Britain. Although the new moth was known as melilothi for many years, this name was found to be a junior synonym of Z. viciae,  [Denis & Schiffermuller 1872].

C .A. Briggs who eventually named the British Z. viciae subspecies ytenensis seems to have a long fascination for this species. As early as 1872 he was attempting to breed the New Forest Burnet in captivity from those pairs he had obtained in copulation and had 300 small larvae, but only 30 survived the winter in his greenhouse. Out of these he had nine pupa, but only had six perfect adults emerged. He proudly exhibited the first ever bred British pairs at the exhibition of the Entomological Society in 1875. However he still at this stage had doubts about the identity of the new burnet and remarked that he had compared his specimens with those of Z. melilothi [ viciae] in the collection of the British Museum and noticed that there were quite a few differences. He still wondered if they were not a dwarf form of Z. trifolii after all.

Sixteen years later in 1888 we find Mr Briggs in the New Forest with one of the finest field collectors of his day, E.G. Meek, the father of the great Rothschild collector A.S. Meek. Z. viciae had already become extinct in its original locality Stubby Copse, but Meek had found a new locality nearby. Briggs stated that those specimens from the new locality differed in several ways from those of the old one. Again Z. viciae was found flying with Z. trifolii and with  intermediate forms?  Later that year Briggs named the New Forest moth ssp ytenensis. Little did he realize that 39 years later his new moth would be lost.



A pair of the Zygaena viciae ytenensis.



A pair of the rare Acosmetia caliginosa from the New Forest. In Britain this species is now confined to a single coastal site on the Isle of Wight in Hampshire.

This a very interesting comment by Roy Leverton on the of British extinction of Moths.

" I believe it is arrogant as well as wrong of humans to assume that they themselves are responsible for each and every loss of a species- or could somehow have prevented this happening. The climate of eastern and south-eastern England is closest to that of the Continent: dry with sunny summers and relatively cold winters. Many moths more at home in mainland Europe, have been able to gain a precarious foothold here, often in very restricted areas that offer a particularly suitable habitat. For instance, several moths have been able to establish a breeding population only on the shingle at Dungeness, like the Kentish Plover [wading bird] once did. Sooner of later, it is inevitable that even minor adverse changes such as a run of cool summers, a build- up of parasitoids, or vegetation succession, will tip the balance, causing them to die out"

Although this may be the cause of the loss of a number of British species, that may have been only transitory immigrants, this may not not account for a number of extinct species, that have had a long recorded history in these islands.

Hi, Darwin, I mean dunc, please can you tell me what was the data on your Leucodonta bicoloria. P.S. Are there many species of British moths that you want for your collection.

The Essex Emerald, Thetidia smaragdaria [ Fabricius 1787] is found in most European counties. In the U.K this emerald moth was represented by the extinct subspecies maritima [ Prout 1935], that was only to be found on the open salt-marshes of the Essex and Kent coasts. Because of the disappearance of the salt-marshes where this species was found, it was finally restricted to a single site, where it was last seen in 1991. At the last known site there was an absence of any change in its severely limited habitat, but this restriction to just one small area was thought to have weakened the breeding strain. It was realized that this endemic subspecies was going to be lost, so in 1987 one well know lepidopterist Paul Waring kept a captive breeding stock in his garden at Peterborough in the Midlands, but unfortunately the strain died out in 1996, perhaps weakened by inbreeding. The larvae fed solely on Sea Wormwood [ Artemisia maritima].

See this article on Paul Warings vallant attempt to save the British Essex Emerald and also the Reddish Buff [ Acosmetia caliginosa]. A moth that has also been mentioned in this thread.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/disappearing-britain-rare-moths-bloom-in-back-garden-a-biologist-is-fighting-to-save-endangered-species-by-releasing-caterpillars-oliver-gillie-reports-1542195.html.

I do believe, that this is taking the loss of the British subspecies T. smaragdaria maritima a bit too far, see this link








Ab abinea [ Burrows ] White cross lines absent.


Specimen with the colour faded. This often happens with the Emerald Moths of the Geometrinae family.

British Specimens of the Essex Emerald Thetidia smaragdaria maritima