| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Including Thysanoplusia Ichinose
Adults. Head rough. Eyes glabrous; ciliated. Antennae of males shortly ciliate. Tongue well developed. Labial palps medium to long; ascending.
Wingspan 34–54 mm. Head and thorax brown or purplish brown, the dark-crested abdomen lighter and coloured like the hindwings. Forewings light to dark brown or purplish, with large brassy fasciae; patterned transversely, or longitudinally streaked, or complexly patterned; the patterning well marked; predominantly shining-metallic; reniform defined to undefined; orbicular defined to undefined (the stigmata faint). Hindwings dark fuscous, or fuscous and pinkish; plain; 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 June to August.
Larvae, pupae. Ventral prolegs 4. Larvae posteriorly humped to posteriorly rounded; feeding on Urtica, Lamium, Arctium, Eupatorium; pupating on vegetative parts of the foodplant.
British representation. 3 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, Southern Scotland, Northern Scotland, Wales, and Ireland; chrysitis (Burnished Brass), chryson (Scarce Burnished Brass), orichalcea (Slender Burnished Brass, = Thysanoplusia).
Plusiinae.
Illustrations. • D. chrysitis (Burnished Brass) and D. orichalcea (Scarce Burnished Brass), with 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. • Diachrysia chrysitis (Burnished Brass, with other Plusiinae: photos). Figs. 1–2, Autographa gamma (Silver Y); 3–4, Autographa pulchrina (Beautiful Golden Y); 5–6, Autographa jota (Plain Golden Y); 7–8, Polychrysia moneta (Golden Plusia); 9–10, Diachrysia chrysitis (Burnished Brass); 11–12, Plusia festucae (Gold Spot).
1–2, Cheddleton near Leek, Staffs., Sept. 1952; 3–6 and 9–12, Cheddleton, July 1952. 7–8, Leek, July 1951. From Watson’s collection. • 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’.
