| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Philopyra Guenée, Pyrophila Stephens
Adults. Head rough. Eyes glabrous; not ciliated. Antennae of males ciliate. Tongue well developed. Labial palps medium to long; ascending.
Wingspan 32–40 mm, or 48–56 mm. Abdomen grey-brown. Forewings brown, or glossy grey-brown in A. tragopoginis ; light brown, or brown, or fuscous; neither green nor greenish tinged; neither purplish nor rosy marked or tinged; plain, or complexly patterned (plain in A. tragopoginis, conspicuously transversely 3-lined in A. pyramidea); the patterning when patterned, well marked; reniform defined (as a pair of dots, in tragopoginis), or undefined; orbicular defined; claviform undefined. Hindwings whitish, or whitish-fuscous, or fuscous, or coppery (in pyramidea); plain, or terminally darkened; without a clear discal mark; without transverse lines; exhibiting vein 5. Vein 5 of the hindwings weak; arising nearer to vein 6 than to vein 4. Thorax not crested. Middle tibiae without spines. Posterior tibiae without spines; rough-scaled. Abdomen not crested.
Living adults found in August.
Larvae, pupae. Larvae posteriorly humped, or posteriorly rounded; feeding on various Dicot trees and shrubs; pupating on the surface of the ground (A. pyramidea), or in the soil (A. tragopoginis, near the surface, with no cocoon).
British representation. 3 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, Southern Scotland, Northern Scotland, Wales, and Ireland; A. berbera svenssoni (Svensson’s Copper Underwing), A. pyramidea pyramidea (Copper Underwing), A. tragopoginis (The Mouse).
Amphipyrinae.
Illustrations. • A. pyramidea (Copper Underwing) and A. tragopoginis (The Mouse), with related genera: Newman. 1(a) and (b), Mormo maura (The Old Lady); 2, AMPHIPYRA pyramidea (Copper Underwing); 3, AMPHIPYRA tragopoginis (The Mouse); 4, Dypterygia scabriuscula (The Bird's Wing); 5, Thalpophila matura (Straw Underwing); 6(a) and (b), Rusina ferruginea (Brown Rustic); 7, Trachea aptriplicis (The Orache Moth); 8, Euplexia lucipara (Small Angle-shades); 9, Phlogophora meticulosa (The Angle Shades); 10, Ipimorpha subtusa (The Olive); 11, Ipimorpha retusa (The Small Olive). From Newman, 1869. • Amphipyrinae: Kirby. AMPHIPYRINAE. 1, Trachea atriplicis (Orache Moth); 2, Euplexia lucipara (Small Angle-shades); 4, Phlogophora meticulosa (Angle-shades); 5, Mormo maura (Old Lady); 8, Amphipoea oculea (Golden Ear); 9, Gortyna flavago (Frosted Orange); 10, Archanara cannae (Reed Wainscot); 11, Nonagria typhae (Bulrush Moth); 12, Diclya 00 (Heart); 13, Cosmia pyralina (Lunar-spotted Pinion); 14, Cosmia diffinis (White-spotted Pinion); 15, Cosmia affinis (Lesser-spotted Pinion); 16, Cosmia trapezina (Dun Bar); 17, Ipimorpha retusa (Double Kidney); 21, Amphipyra tragopogonis (Mouse); 22, Amphipyra pyramidea Copper Underwing). From Kirby 36 and 38.
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’.
