| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Aethria Hübner, Aetheria
Adults. Head rough. Eyes hairy; not ciliated. Antennae of males ciliate.
Wingspan 30–38 mm. Thorax grey, with orange marks or black mottling, the abdomen grey like the hindwings. Forewings white with a dark fuscous median band, or smoky grey with a darker fuscous median band; white, or whitish, or pale grey, or grey; complexly patterned; the patterning well marked (the median band sharply demarcated); patterned lighter and darker, or in contrasting colours; reniform defined; orbicular defined; claviform defined to undefined. Hindwings light grey; plain; with 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 back). Posterior tibiae without spines (?). Abdomen more or less crested.
Living adults found June and July.
Larvae, pupae. Larvae posteriorly rounded to posteriorly tapered; feeding on Compositae; pupating in the soil.
British representation. 2 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, Southern Scotland, Northern Scotland, Wales, and Ireland; bicolorata (Broad-barred White), dysodea (Small Ranunculus).
Hadeninae.
Illustrations. • H. dysodea (Small Ranunculus) and H. bicolorata (Broad-barred White), and 4 related genera: Newman. 1, Lacanobia contigua (Beautiful Brocade); 2, Lacanobia w-latinum (Light Brocade); 3, Lacanobia oleracea (Bright-line Brown-eye); 4(a)-(c), Lacanobia thalassina (Pale-shouldered Brocade); 5, Lacanobia suasa (The Dog's Tooth); 6, Lacanobia blenna (The Stranger); 7(a)-(c), Lacanobia biren (Brindled Green); 8, Ceramica pisi (The Broom Moth); 9, Cerapteryx graminis (The Antler Moth); 10, HECATERA dysodea (Small Ranunculus); 11, Hecatera bicolorata (Broad-barred White); 12, Tholera cespitis (Hedge Rustic); 13, Tholera decimalis (Feathered Gothic). From Newman. See notes for legend. • H. dysodea (The Ranunculus), with Hadeninae and Cuculliinae: Kirby. HADENINAE. 1, Lacanobia thalassina (Pale-shouldered Brocade); 2, Lacanobia suasa (Dog's Tooth); 3, Lacanobia oleracea (Bright-line Brown-eye); 4, Lacanobia w-latinum (Light Brocade); 5, Hada plebeja (Shears); 6, Dicestra trifolii (Nutmeg); 7, Heliophobus reticulata; 8, Hecatera dysodea (Ranunculus Moth); 9, Hecatera bicolorata (Broad-barred White); 10, Hadena caesia; 11, Hadena confusa (Marbled Coronet); 12, Hadena compta; 13, Hadena bicruris (Lychnis); 14, Hadena rivularis (Campion Moth); 15, Hadena perplexa (Tawny Shears); 16, Hadena irregularis; 17, “Episema trimacula”, cf. E. tersa. CUCULLIINAE. 18, Aporophyla nigra (Black Rustic); 19, Ammoconia caecimacula; 20, Polymixis polymita; 21, Polymixis flavicincta (Large Ranunculus); 22, Antitype chi (Grey Chi). From Kirby 39, with names updated. • Larvae of H. dysodea (Small Ranunculus): Duponchel and Guénée (1849). Noctuidae. H. dysodea (Small Ranunculus). Duponchel and Guénée, 1849.
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’.
