Phil Sterling (2008): An adventive species known in Britain for about a century, but not found in western Europe. It may have been imported with trade in ferns. The first published records of the species in Britain were from Bournemouth. The adult is day-flying. The larva feeds on several species of fern, including soft shield-fern (Polystichum setiferum), male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas) and hart’s tongue (Phyllitis scolopendrium), eating the sporangia and lower leaf surface. The larva covers itself in a loose mass of sporangia.