Mother Of Pearl

Patania ruralis

Patania ruralis, the mother of pearl moth, is a species of moth in the grass moth family Crambidae. It was described by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1763. Its common name refers to its almost transparent wings which in oblique lighting show a pale blue pearlescent sheen. This is found in Europe, occurring almost across the continent and the nearshore islands, except for those in the Aegean and Western Mediterranean as well as Cyprus. The adults are on the wing from June to September depending on the location. The caterpillars eat mainly Urtica nettles; occasionally they are found on other eudicots. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this insect was recorded 90 times across 10 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

See the Mother Of Pearl on the live map

Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 23°C (typically 18 to 24°C, from 6 areas). That holds across 20° of latitude, which suggests its timing follows temperature more than the calendar.

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Europe ranged from 51°N in July to 61°N in August, about 1,100 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

Download every area as CSV

Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.