| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Habrrostola Sodovsky, Unca Lhomme, Unca Oken
Adults. Head rough. Head without a frontal tuft. Eyes glabrous; ciliated. Antennae of males shortly ciliate. Tongue well developed. Labial palps medium to long; ascending (second joint bent, terminal straight).
Wingspan 32–40 mm. Head, thorax and abdomen grey-brown. Forewings light fuscous with a broad darker fuscous median band, or light grey with a darker grey median band; complexly patterned; the patterning well marked (with complex transverse lines sharply delimiting the median area); patterned lighter and darker, or lighter and darker and in contrasting colours; neither shining-metallic nor with shining metallic effects; reniform defined; orbicular defined; claviform undefined. Hindwings fuscous; terminally darkened; with a clear discal mark to without a clear discal mark; without transverse lines; exhibiting vein 5. Vein 5 of the hindwings strong; arising nearer to vein 4 than to vein 6; convergent on vein 4 near their bases. Thorax crested. Middle tibiae without spines. Posterior tibiae with spines; rough-scaled. Abdomen crested.
Living adults found May to August (sometimes double brooded).
Larvae, pupae. Ventral prolegs 8. Larvae posteriorly humped; feeding on Humulus and Urtica; pupating on vegetative parts of the foodplant.
British representation. 2 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, Southern Scotland, Northern Scotland, Wales, and Ireland; A. triplasia (Dark Spectacle), A. tripartita (Light Spectacle).
Plusiinae.
Illustrations. • A. tripartita (Spectacle) and A. triplasia (Dark Spectacle), with Macdunnoughia: photos. Figs. 1–2, Macdunnoughia confusa (Dewick's Plusia: a sporadic immigrant). 3–4, Abrostola tripartita (Spectacle); 5, Abrostola triplasia (Dark Spectacle).
1–2: Bagneux, Seine, Sept. 1954. 3–4, Cheddleton near Leek, Staffs., June 1957. 5, Cheddleton, June 1952. From Watson’s collection. • The British species, with 5 other genera of Plusiinae: Newman. 1, ABROSTOLA trigemina (Dark Spectacle); 2, ABROSTOLA triplasia (The Spectacle, or Light Spectacle); 3, Trichoplusia ni (Ni Moth); 4, Diachrysia chrysitis (Burnished Brass); 5, Diachrysia orichalcea (Scarce Burnished Brass); 6, Plusia festucae (Gold Spot); 7, Autographa gamma (Silver Y); 8, Autographa jota (Plain Golden Y); 9, Autographa pulchrina (Beautiful Golden Y); 10, Autographa bractea (Gold Spangle); 11, Syngrapha interrogationis (Scarce Silver Y). From Newman, 1869. • Cuculliinae and Plusiinae: Kirby. CUCULLIINAE. 1, Cucullia verbasci (Mullein Shark); 2, Cucullia asteris (Starwort Shark); 3 and 5, Cucullia umbratica (Shark); 4, Cucullia lactucae (Lettuce Shark); 5, Cucullia umbratica (Shark); 6, Cucullia chamomillae (Chamomile Shark); 7, Cucullia artemisiae (Scarce Wormwood Shark); 8, Cucullia absinthii (Wormwood Shark); 9, Cucullia argentea (Green Silver-spangle); 10, Eutelia adulatrix; 11, Allophyes oxyacanthae ab. capucina (Green-brindled Crescent, var.); 12, Eucarta amethystina . PLUSIINAE. 13, Abrostola trigemina (Dark Spectacle); 14, Abrostola triplasia (Spectacle); 15, Lamprotes c-aureum; 16, Polychrysia moneta (Golden Plusia); 17, Euchalia consona; 18, Euchalcia modestoides; 19, Diachrysia chrysitis (Burnished Brass); 20, Autographa bractea (Gold Spangle); 21, Plusia festucae (Gold Spot); 22, Autographa jota (Plain Golden Y); 23, Autographa gamma (Silver Y); 24, Syngrapha interrogationis (Scarce Silver Y); 25, Syngrapha ain; 26, Syngrapha hochenwarthi. From Kirby 41.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae. Version: 14th February 2021. delta-intkey.com’.
