| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Chortodes Tutt, Petilampa Aurivillius, Phothedes; with Bradley (2002) presenting captiuncula and minima as Photedes s. str., and referring the rest to Chortodes
Adults. Head rough. Head without a projecting, horny frontal plate. Eyes glabrous; not ciliated. Antennae of males ciliate. Tongue well developed.
Wingspan 20–38 mm. Thorax and abdomen coloured like the forewings, or the abdomen like the hindwings. Forewings whitish, buff, or light reddish brown; whitish, or pale ochreous, or ochreous, or reddish brown; neither green nor greenish tinged; neither purplish nor rosy marked or tinged; plain, or patterned transversely, or longitudinally streaked (variously plain, or with only a few dots, a dotted transverse line, a basal streak, or a dark central band); the patterning well marked to obscure; reniform defined, or undefined; orbicular defined, or undefined; claviform undefined. Hindwings fuscous, or whitish and ochreous, or whitish and brownish, or grey; plain (mostly), or terminally darkened; without a clear discal mark; transversely lined, or without transverse lines (mostly); exhibiting vein 5. Vein 5 of the hindwings weak; arising nearer to vein 6 than to vein 4. The males with anterior tarsi; not fan-footed. Middle tibiae without spines. Posterior tibiae without spines; rough-scaled. Abdomen not crested.
Living adults found June and July, or July and August.
Larvae, pupae. Larvae feeding on Gramineae and Cyperaceae, within the culms; pupating on vegetative parts of the foodplant (P. elymi), or in the soil.
British representation. 8 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, Southern Scotland, Northern Scotland, Wales, and Ireland; brevilinea (Fenn’s Wainscot), captiuncula (Least Minor), elymi (Lyme Grass Wainscot), extrema (The Concolorous), fluxa (Mere Wainscot), minima (Small Dotted Buff), morrisii (Morris’s Wainscot), pygmina (Small Wainscot).
Amphipyrinae.
Illustrations. • The British species of Photedes, with 6 related genera. 1(a) and (b), Photedes captiuncula (Least Minor); 2(a)-(c), Photedes pygmina (Small Wainscot); 3(a) and (b), Photedes minima (Small Dotted Buff); 4, Photedes elymi (The Lyme Grass); 5, Photedes morrisii (Bond's Wainscot); 6, Photedes brevilinea (Fenn's Wainscot); 7(a) and (b), Photedes extrema (The Concolorous); 8(a) and (b), Photedes fluxa (Mere Wainscot); 9(a) and (b), Amphipoea spp. (The Ear - requiring examination of genitalia to distinguish the species); 10, Luperina testacea (Flounced Rustic); 11, Luperina dumerilii (Dumeril's Luperina); 12, Hydraecia micacea (Rosy Rustic); 13, Hydraecia petasitis (The Butterbur); 14, Gortyna flavago (Frosted Orange); 15(a) and (b), Celaena leucostigma leucostigma (The Crescent) 16, Celaena haworthii (Haworth's Minor); 17(a) and (b), Nonagria typhae (The Bullrush). From Newman, 1869. • Amphipyrinae (Photedes, Stilbia, Apamea, Spodoptera): Kirby. AMPHIPYRINAE. 9, Photedes morrisii bondii (Morris's Wainscot); 10, Stilbia anomala (The Anomalous Moth); 21, Apamea difflua var. assimilis (Northern Arches); 22, Apamea zeta marmorata (The Exile); 23, Spodoptera littoralis (Mediterranean Brocade). From Kirby 52.
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’.
