| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Racoptera Scott
Adults. Head rough. Eyes glabrous; not ciliated. Antennae of males ciliate.
Wingspan 45–52 mm. Thorax coloured like the fore-wings, the abdomen grey-brown. Forewings patterned in light and dark browns tinged rosy and often with olive green; rosy marked or tinged; complexly patterned; reniform defined; orbicular defined; claviform undefined. Hindwings whitish, fuscous, and ochreous; plain, or conspicuously patterned (then quite sharply darkened and lined around the inner angle); with a clear discal mark to without a clear discal mark; transversely lined; exhibiting vein 5. Vein 5 of the hindwings weak; arising nearer to vein 6 than to vein 4. Thorax crested (anteriorly and posteriorly). Middle tibiae without spines. Posterior tibiae without spines. Abdomen crested.
Living adults found May, June, July, August, September, and October (double brooded).
Larvae, pupae. Larvae posteriorly humped to posteriorly rounded; feeding on diverse herbaceous plants, including ferns; pupating on the surface of the ground.
British representation. 1 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, Southern Scotland, Northern Scotland, Wales, and Ireland (common); meticulosa (Angle Shades).
Amphipyrinae.
Illustrations. • P. meticulosa (The Angle Shades): photo. • P. meticulosa (The Angle Shades), and 8 related genera: Newman. 1(a) and (b), Mormo maura (The Old Lady); 2, Amphipyra pyramidea (Copper Underwing); 3, Amphipyra tragopoginis (The Mouse); 4, Dypterygia scabriuscula (The Bird's Wing); 5, Thalpophila matura (Straw Underwing); 6(a) and (b), Rusina ferruginea (Brown Rustic); 7, Trachea aptriplicis (The Orache Moth); 8, Euplexia lucipara (Small Angle-shades); 9, PHLOGOPHORA meticulosa (The Angle Shades); 10, Ipimorpha subtusa (The Olive); 11, Ipimorpha retusa (The Small Olive). From Newman, 1869. • Amphipyrinae: Kirby. AMPHIPYRINAE. 1, Trachea atriplicis (Orache Moth); 2, Euplexia lucipara (Small Angle-shades); 4, Phlogophora meticulosa (Angle-shades); 5, Mormo maura (Old Lady); 8, Amphipoea oculea (Golden Ear); 9, Gortyna flavago (Frosted Orange); 10, Archanara cannae (Reed Wainscot); 11, Nonagria typhae (Bulllrush Moth); 12, Diclya 00 (Heart); 13, Cosmia pyralina (Lunar-spotted Pinion); 14, Cosmia diffinis (White-spotted Pinion); 15, Cosmia affinis (Lesser-spotted Pinion); 16, Cosmia trapezina (Dun Bar); 17, Ipimorpha retusa (Double Kidney); 21, Amphipyra tragopogonis (Mouse); 22, Amphipyra pyramidea Copper Underwing). From Kirby 36 and 38.
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’.
