Musotima nitidalis - 1st VC57 record - 5th November 2026 - Belper - Matt Leedell
63.1181 BF1355a  – Marbled Fern  – Musotima nitidalis  – Walker
Adult Micro:  CAT 1 – Distinctive species unlikely to be confused with others –      
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Brown –  Significant Record / Rare / Vagrant         orange – Migrant
Taxonomy:   Micro   >>  Crambidae  >> Acentropinae
Other Name/s: Golden-brown Fern Moth
ID Difficulty:  green  – easy to identify, generally distinctive and unlikely to be confused with other species.
ID pointers: An attractive little micro moth that has multi-shaded golden-brown forewings, marked with distinct white or cream patterns. 
Distribution:  An adventive, that is a native from Australia and New Zealand and that was first recorded in Britain from Dorset in 2009. Likely arriving accidentally and thought to have been imported in consignments of horticultural tree ferns. Gradually becoming residential in counties as far north as Yorkshire and from nearby Leicestershire. A first record of an adult for VC57 Derbyshire was attracted to light at a garden moth trap in Belper on 5th November 2026.
General Comment: An adventive. Adventive species seem to have have quite odd emergence profiles. FFor example most of the Yorkshire records have been recorded during October – November, which seems to fit with ours and with key emergence of other records. One of our recorders has made the following comments – “In their native range their occurance is variable depending on climate but in general they seem to peak between November and March (i.e southern summer). To me this suggests that the autumn sightings here in UK are from recent fern imports and are still running on ‘down-under’ time. I’d imagine that if the moth becomes firmly established, emergence will gradually shift towards warmer months of the year“.
Flight Period: May /  June /  July /  August /  September /  October /  November Moth Activity: Cathemeral   – active in afternoon and evening sunshine and occasionally comes to light Photographed: Yes –   Photographed By: Matt Leedell  © All Rights Reserved
*** Last updated on 6 November 2026 by TD ***
Wingspan: 15-20mm
Food Plant: A variety of ferns
Last Recorded Year: 2026
First Recorded Year: 2026
Last Recorded By – Matt Leedell
Last Recorded General Area – Belper

Possible Future Content


Images of Interest:



Temporal Distribution Chart
Adults: (between 2026 - 2026)
(click legend below to show/hide datasets)
This chart summarises all available historical occurrence records collated by ISO week of the year. It reflects recorder effort and sampling distribution as well as true biological activity, and should be interpreted as an indicative pattern of seasonal occurrence rather than a statistically controlled abundance or phenology model.


Changes in First and Last Recorded Activity Dates Over Time
Activity Data Range: 2026 – 2026
Earliest Appearance: 5th November (in 2026)
Latest Appearance: 5th November (in 2026)

This chart presents a time-series summary of recorded observations. It is based on available records at the time of analysis and will evolve as further data are added. The five-year moving average provides a smoothed representation of variation in recorded adult and immature activity over time, helping to illustrate longer-term trends in the earliest and latest recorded dates.

Annual record totals are shown for context; years with fewer records may provide a less complete representation of activity than years with higher recording intensity. Interpretation should consider that apparent trends may reflect both biological change and variation in recording effort.

Note: Clicking either the Adult Range.... or Immature Range... legends allows you to hide them, to show more discrete data.


Distribution Map for Musotima nitidalis

Found 1 records
    ↳ 1 from 2026+
    ↳ 0 from 2020 - 2025
    ↳ 0 from Before 2020
Flying
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

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.

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.


NBN Atlas UK Distribution for – Musotima nitidalis

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Note – the NBN Atlas datasets are listed in the map below and vary in their currency (uptodateness) – however, the map does give a general indication of the moth's distribution across the UK.

Visit NBN Site


Monthly Records By Year: Musotima nitidalis
( data includes both Larvae and Adult Stages )

Monthly Counts By Year: Musotima nitidalis
( data is based on 'Adult' stage records only )

First/Last Recorded Dates: Musotima nitidalis
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: Musotima nitidalis
( All data includes both Larvae and Adult Stages )
Annual Growth Rate (AGR): Musotima nitidalis
AGR: 0%   |   Total % Change: 0%
Musotima nitidalis
Insufficient records/data for an AGR analysis
Years Analysed: 2000 – 2026

Hectad (10kmx10km) Coverage: Musotima nitidalis
( data includes both Larvae and Adult Stages )

Flight Periods – Indicative –vs– Recorded Data
Musotima nitidalis

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 2020-2026.

Records Behind the Map and Charts - Musotima nitidalis – 1 records available

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

Site Name Tetrad Date Count Stage Recorder Source RecordKey
Belper SK34N 05/11/2026 1 adult Leedell, Matt vc57_irecords_extract iBRC58014205

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