| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Anoplia Stephens
Adults. Head loosely scaled. Eyes glabrous; not ciliated. Antennae of males ciliate. Labial palps long; ascending.
Wingspan 40–45 mm. Head, thorax and abdomen coloured like the forewings. Forewings blackish; complexly patterned (marbled and lined); the patterning largely obscure (but with a clearly demarcated lighter submarginal band); reniform defined; orbicular defined; claviform defined to undefined. Hindwings white and blackish; conspicuously patterned (with a contrasty, dark subterminal band, containing with a light mark at the inner angle); without a clear discal mark; 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 (posteriorly). Middle tibiae without spines. Posterior tibiae with spines; rough-scaled. Abdomen crested (with several crests).
Living adults found in May.
British representation. 1 species. Status in Britain vagrant. South-east England and Central-southern England (rare and local, a casual immigrant); C. alchymista (The Alchymist).
Ophiderinae.
Illustrations. • C. alchymista (The Alchymist), with the other Ophiderinae: Newman. 1(a)-(c), Tyta luctuosa (The Four-spotted); 2, Catephia alchymista (The Alchymist); 3, Scoliopteryx libatrix (The Herald); 4, Lygephila pastinum (Blackneck); 5, Lygephila craccae (Scarce Blackneck); 6, Phytometra viridaria (Small Purple-barred); 7, Parascotia fuliginaria (Waved Black). From Newman, 1869. • Ophiderinae: Kirby. OPHIDERINAE. 1, Catephia alchymista (The Alchymist); 2, Aedia funesta; 9, Scoliopteryx libatrix (The Herald); 14, Tyta luctuosa (The Four-spotted). From Kirby 37 and 42. • Ophiderinae and Catocalinae: Kirby. OPHIDERINAE. 1. Catephia alchymista (The Alchymist); 11 and 12, Lygephila pastinum (The Blackneck); 13, Lygephila craccae (Scarce Blackneck). CATOCALINAE. 2. Catocala fraxinae (Clifden Nonpareil); 4, Catocala nupta (Red Underwing); 5., Catocala sponsa (Dark Crimson Underwing); 6, Catocala promissa (Light Crimson Underwing); 7, Catocala electa (Rosy Underwing). From Kirby 43.
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’.
