| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Toxocampa Guenée
Adults. Head rough. Head with a frontal tuft. Eyes glabrous; not ciliated. Antennae of males ciliate. Labial palps medium; ascending.
Wingspan 40–47 mm. Head and collar dark brown. Forewings brownish grey, sometimes somewhat rosy- or purplish-tinged; patterned transversely; the patterning obscure (freckled with faint, complete or incomplete transverse darker lines, and a poorly defined submarginal band darkened near the costa); reniform defined; orbicular defined (reduced to a black dot), or undefined; claviform undefined. Hindwings whitish-fuscous, or fuscous and ochreous, or fuscous and yellowish; plain; without a clear discal mark; transversely lined to 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 (anteriorly). Middle tibiae without spines. Posterior tibiae with spines; rough-scaled. Abdomen not crested.
Living adults found June and July.
Larvae, pupae. Larvae feeding on Vicia spp.; pupating on vegetative parts of the foodplant, or on the surface of the ground.
British representation. 2 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, and Wales; craccae (The Scarce Blackneck), pastinum (The Blackneck).
Ophiderinae.
Illustrations. • Ophiderinae: Lygephila pastinum (Black-neck: B. Ent. 475). • Lygephila pastinum: B. Ent. 475, legend+text. • Lygephila pastinum: B. Ent. 475, text cont.. • L. pastinum (Blackneck) and L. craccae (Scarce Blackneck), with 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. • British Ophiderinae: Swain. 1, Tyta luctuosa (The Four-spotted); 2*, Tathorhynchus exsiccata (Levant Blackneck: Amphipyrinae); 3, Lygephila pastinum (Blackneck); 4, Lygephila cracca (Scarce Blackneck); 5, Colobochyla salicalis (Lesser Belle); 6, Rivula sericealis (Straw Dot); 7, Scoliopteryx libatrix (Herald); 8, Phytometra viridaria (Small Purple-barred); 9, Parascotia fuliginaria (Waved Black); 10, Laspeyria flexula (Beautiful Hook-tip). Swain, 1961. • 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’.
