Podalonia hirsuta

Range & Status

This species ranges along the southern and western coasts from west Sussex to Lancashire with an apparently separate population on the Norfolk coast. Widespread on southern heathland, and especially on warm, sandy, coastal sites. Whereas this species has been recorded from numerous sites in both vice-counties in the past, most of the recent records are from VC1. This spectacular hunter of large, subterranean caterpillars has been recorded at numerous post-1980 sites on the Lizard Peninsula, West Penwith and the dune systems on the north Cornish coastline.