General comments:
Ubiquitous.

This species is sexually dimorphic - the females are more or less uniformly blackish and are far less frequent at light traps than the males. Interestingly, it is absent from all of the major county lists of the nineteenth century. It is not listed for Hertfordshire until 1893, when S. H. Spencer found one in his garden in Gladstone Road, Watford (Gibbs, 1896). It was described as 'Scarce' at Waltham Cross by Boyd (1901), but in 1937 Foster listed several localities indicating it to have been widespread by that date. It is of some interest that the first record of Shuttle-shaped Dart in Hertfordshire was not forthcoming until people started using electric arc lamps to attract moths. Indeed, the moth was reported as generally rather scarce until more people got going with the new-fangled electric lamps whereupon it was discovered to be really rather common.

Recorded in 40 (98%) of 41 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1893. Last Recorded in 2024. Additional Stats

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