| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Helotropha Lederer
Adults. Head rough. Eyes glabrous; not ciliated. Antennae of males ciliate. Labial palps porrect to ascending.
Wingspan 26–40 mm. Thorax tinted like the forewings, the abdomen like the hindwings. Forewings rich umber- or reddish brown, or in C. leuecostigma umber-brown or grey and umber; neither green nor greenish tinged; neither purplish nor rosy marked or tinged; patterned transversely, or complexly patterned; the patterning well marked, or obscure (complexly and clearly patterned in C. haworthii, obscurely so or manifesting clear transverse lines only in C. leucostigma); reniform defined (often brilliant white); orbicular defined to undefined; claviform defined, or undefined. Hindwings dark fuscous; plain to terminally darkened; with a clear discal mark, or 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 crested (front and rear). Middle tibiae without spines. Posterior tibiae without spines. Abdomen crested.
Living adults found July and August.
Larvae, pupae. Larvae not conspicuously hairy; feeding on Cyperaceae and Iris, in the stems.
British representation. 2 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, Southern Scotland, Northern Scotland, Wales, and Ireland; haworthii (Haworth’s Minor), leucostigma (The Crescent).
Amphipyrinae.
Illustrations. • C. leucostigma (The Crescent) and C. haworthii (Haworth’s Minor), with related genera: Newman. 1(a) and (b), Photedes captiuncula (Least Minor); 2(a)-(c), Photedes pygmina (Small Wainscot); 3(a) and (b), Photedes minima (Small Dotted Buff); 4, Photedes elymi (The Lyme Grass); 5, Photedes morrisii (Bond's Wainscot); 6, Photedes brevilinea (Fenn's Wainscot); 7(a) and (b), Photedes extrema (The Concolorous); 8(a) and (b), Photedes fluxa (Mere Wainscot); 9(a) and (b), Amphipoea spp. (The Ear - requiring examination of genitalia to distinguish the species); 10, Luperina testacea (Flounced Rustic); 11, Luperina dumerilii (Dumeril's Luperina); 12, Hydraecia micacea (Rosy Rustic); 13, Hydraecia petasitis (The Butterbur); 14, Gortyna flavago (Frosted Orange); 15(a) and (b), CELAENA leucostigma leucostigma (The Crescent) 16, CELAENA haworthii (Haworth's Minor); 17(a) and (b), Nonagria typhae (The Bullrush). From Newman, 1869. • Cuculliinae: Celaena haworthii (Curtis): Haworth's Minor: B. Ent. 260. • Celaena haworthii (B. Ent. 260, legend+text). • Celaena haworthii (B. Ent. 260, text cont.).
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’.
