[Dunn and Parrack treat Aporophyla lutulenta and Aporophyla lueneburgensis as the same species.] Robson notes 'Apparently a rare species [...]'. Nowadays this is probably an exaggeration, as specimens can be taken locally in coastal areas and on moorland with fair regularity, though it is nowhere common. MBGBI (10, 63) mentions that ssp. Iueneburgensis Freyer, the northern, local form is 'much smaller' than A.nigra, but this is by no means always the case, and as there may have been some confusion between the two species in the past, observers are advised to rely on the yellowish reniform stigma, more evenly curved termen and, most critically, the lack of black spotting across the veins of the hindwing, in identifying the latter species.[...] The moth is on the wing from mid-August throughout September, marginally earlier than A. nigra.