Metzneria metzneriella       Monochroa cytisella
35.060 BF730  –  Gelechiidae –  Gelechiinae – Apodia martinii – Dark Seedhead Moth – (Duponchel, [1843]) Adult Micro:  CAT 2 – Confusion Species –       PDF Icon – click for General Verification Guidelines  |   PDF Icon – click for Specific Verification Guidelines
Brown –  Significant Record / Very Rare / Vagrant         day-flying – Day-flying
Taxonomy:   Micro   >>  Gelechiidae  >> Gelechiinae
Other Name/s: Dark Fleabane Neb, Apodia bifractella
ID Difficulty:  amber  – care required in the identification process, as confusion with similar species is likely – quality photographs required.
Confusion Species:  Metzneria aprilella and Ptocheuusa paupella
ID pointers: A blackish-brown forewing, speckled lightly with grey – orangey zig-zag crosslines, Orange-yellow head
Distribution:  (First record: 1 August 2011 at Marehay, Ripley )  –  (Last record: 29 August 2016 at Wingerworth )  –  Derbyshire status unknown due to insuffcient data. First record for VC57 was 1/8/2011 from Ripley, then 2 records from Pleasley 19/7/2012 & 24/8/2016, Marehay 21/8/2016 and a final record from Wingerworth 29/8/2016 – no further records – It is suspected that it may be common wherever the food plants occur, but the adult moths are very secrative in their behaviour and rarely come to light. Sometimes found in late afternoon on flowers of the food-plant.
Flight Period: July /  August /  Moth Activity: Cathemeral   – sometimes seen during the day Photographed: Yes –  Photographed By: Steve Thorpe  © All Rights Reserved
*** Last updated on 26 July 2025 by TD ***
Wingspan: 9-12mm
 Food Plant: The easiest way to find Apodia martinii (bifractella) is to note locations in summer where the foodplants grow,(common fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica), ploughman’s spikenard (Inula conyzae), or sea aster (Aster tripolium), and to return in December to April to collect a carrier bag of the dead plant remains. Keep outdoors until March/April, and then bring inside, remove seedheads and place them in a large sweet jar, or similar, with the lid on. Imagines may emerge in July-August, but need careful looking for, as they sit very still and match the seedheads. If you think you have failed, check the debris at the bottom of the jar before discarding it. Collecting seedheads at random may seem unreliable, but the first records for Cheshire and Derbyshire were made by collecting common fleabane at four widely separated localities, all of which produced A.martinii, in one case, over 70 specimens. It is suspected that it may be common wherever the foodplants occur.
Last Recorded Year: 2016
First Recorded Year: 2011
Last Recorded By – Not Recorded
Last Recorded General Area – Wingerworth
IMAGES BELOW:  

Apodia martinii - 01/08/2011 - Ripley - Steve Thorpe
Apodia martinii – 01/08/2011 – Ripley – Steve Thorpe
Apodia martinii - 01/08/2011 - Ripley - Steve Thorpe

no images were found

Distribution Map for Apodia martinii

Found 3 records
    ↳ 2 from After 2025
    ↳ 0 from 2020 - 2024
    ↳ 1 from Before 2020

If the Map Layers function fails, just refresh the page and it should be OK after. Use the +- zoom on the top left, or on a tablet, use two fingers to zoom. Remember, the last layer you ticked is the one which displays the popup information - they sit on top of each other - de-select then re-select, to see the popup values.

******* Choose ONLY one at a time, of either Monad, Tetrad or Hectad Distribution - each has it's own set of data. Also, the distribution maps cover ALL recorded data. *******

Bedrock Geology ** indirectly affects moth distribution by influencing the type of habitat and food plants available in an area. In turn, this may affect the types of moths that can thrive, or where they can most likely be found.

Land-cover * shows the variety of land-cover within the VC57 area, based on the CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment) forty-four thematic classes of land-cover. This will show, to a greater or lesser degree, the number and variety of moths found in different land-cover types. The UK continues to operate within the Copernicus programme, with the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) providing Corine Land Cover (CLC) datasets for the UK and its territories.

⚠️ NBN Atlas UK Distribution - No LSID found for: Apodia martinii
This moth may be an aggregate and as such no specific records of distribution exist.


Monthly Records By Year: Apodia martinii
( data includes both Larvae and Adult Stages )

Monthly Counts By Year: Apodia martinii
( data is based on 'Adult' stage records only. )


First/Last Recorded Dates: Apodia martinii
Adult-only & Anything [Larvae, Pupae, Adult, Mines]

Shading shows moth presence between dates

Click the colour discs below to Select/De-select as Required

Recordings By Year: Apodia martinii
( All data includes both Larvae and Adult Stages )
Annual Growth Rate (AGR): Apodia martinii
AGR: 0%   |   Total % Change: 0%


CUSUM Analysis: Apodia martinii
About this chart: CUSUM (Cumulative Sum) charts track long-term trends in moth populations [ filtered by 'Adult' and 'Mine' life stages ] by showing whether each year’s counts are above or below the historical average. Even small shifts build up over time, making trends of growth, stability, or decline easier to see. CUSUM highlights trend-consistency — asking: “Across the years, have moth counts mostly stayed above or below average?”
The data sample has 24 gap year/s here (zero records) between 2000 and 2025. The moth may have been present in those gap years, but no data was available. Too many year-gaps may exaggerate or skew the chart.

Counts for the current year (2025) are pro-rated based on data available up to month 7 (July) to provide a full-year equivalent.

ⓘ Purple line rises = years better than average; falls = years worse than average.
Peak (best year) Trough (worst year) Growth periods Decline periods
Population peaked around 2025, reaching above average levels. The lowest population point occurred near 2011, showing a significant decline.

What the Y-axis "Cumulative Deviation" means: Cumulative Deviation shows the running total of how each year’s moth population count differs from the long-term average. i

Hectad (10kmx10km) Coverage: Apodia martinii
( data includes both Larvae and Adult Stages )

Flight Periods – Indicative –vs– Recorded Data
Apodia martinii
( data includes Adult Stage only )

Flight Period chart – the grey hatched area above, which can cross one or more months, pictorially represents the best guess we have for this moth's flight periods [month/s]. The coloured lines represent the actual months seen in flight, from site observation records received between 2020-2025.

Records Behind the Map and Charts - Apodia martinii – 3 records available

Listed by Year - descending - scroll across to see all table columns

TaxonSite NameTetradYearDateCountStageSource
Apodia martiniiMarkham Vale South TipSK47K202517/07/20251adultvc57_irecords_extract
Apodia martiniiStaveley garden SYASK47H202521/07/20251adultvc57_irecords_extract
Apodia martiniiBackgarden MarehaySK34Z201101/08/20111adultvc57_irecords_extract

Metzneria metzneriella       Monochroa cytisella

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