| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Adults. Head rough. Face without any conspicuous prominence. Eyes glabrous; not ciliated. Antennae of males ciliate.
Wingspan 42–52 mm. Thorax coloured like the forewings, the abdomen like the hindwings. Forewings greyish darkish brown; complexly patterned; the patterning fairly well marked to obscure; reniform defined; orbicular defined; claviform defined. Hindwings whitish, or whitish brownish; narrowly terminally darkened (with conspicuously dark nerves); without a clear discal mark; transversely lined; exhibiting vein 5. Vein 5 of the hindwings strong (distally); arising nearer to vein 6 than to vein 4. Thorax crested (front and rear). Middle tibiae with spines. Posterior tibiae with spines. Abdomen not crested.
Living adults found May and June, or August to October (double brooded).
Larvae, pupae. Larvae posteriorly rounded; feeding on low-growing Dicots, e.g. Trifolium, Rumex; pupating in the soil.
British representation. 1 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, Southern Scotland, Northern Scotland, Wales, and Ireland; saucia (Pearly Underwing).
Noctuinae.
Illustrations. • Noctuinae: P. saucia (Pearly Underwing) and related genera: Newman. 1(a)-(c), PERIDROMA saucia (Pearly Underwing); 2, Anaplectoides prasina (Green Arches); 3(a)-(f), Diarsia mendica mendica (Ingrailed Clay); 4, Diarsia dahlii (Barred Chestnut); 5, Naenia typica (The Gothic); 6, Diarsia rubi (Small Square-spot); 7, Diarsia brunnea (Purple Clay); 8(a) and (b), Eurois occulta (Great Brocade). From Newman (1869).
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’.
