| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Adults. Head rough. Eyes hairy; not ciliated. Antennae of males ciliate.
Wingspan 45–58 mm. Head, thorax and abdomen coloured like the hindwings. Forewings grey or light or dark grey-brown; complexly patterned; the patterning well marked; reniform defined; orbicular defined; claviform defined. Hindwings light fuscous, or grey, or brownish, or ochreous; plain to terminally darkened; without 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; feeding on diverse Dicot herbs and grasses before hibernation, then shoots of Rubus, Salix, Crataegus, Quercus, etc.; pupating in the soil (just below the surface).
British representation. 3 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, Southern Scotland, Northern Scotland, Wales, and Ireland; bombycina (The Pale Shining Brown), trimaculosa (Silvery Arches), nebulosa (Grey Arches).
Hadeninae.
Illustrations. • Polia nebulosa (Grey Arches), light and melanic forms: photos. Polia nebulosa (Grey Arches): Females (1 and 3) and males of light and melanic forms of a species exhibiting industrial melanism (cf. Ford, 1955). The two specimens of the latter (3 and 4) typify the material collected in the Leek district (N. Staffs.) during the decade 1948–1958, when the adult moths were mainly found at rest on walls of buildings during the day. Habitat rural, but within 10 and 30 miles respectively of heavily industrialised Stoke-on-Trent and Manchester.
1, Millbrook (June 1930, F. Boddington); 2, Folkestone, Kent (June 1908, R.A. Nichols); 3 and 4, Cheddleton near Leek, Staffs. (July 1949, L. Watson). From Watson's collection. • Hadeninae: The 4 British Polia species, with 8 related genera: Newman. 1(a) and (b), Anarta myrtillae (Beautiful Yellow Underwing); 2, Anarta melanopa (Broad-bordered White Underwing); 3, Anarta cordigera (Small Dark Yellow Underwing); 4, Discestra trifolii (The Nutmeg); 5(a) and (b), POLIA nebulosa (Grey Arches, normal forms); 5(c) and (d), POLIA nebulosa (Grey Arches, varieties); 6, POLIA trimaculosa (Silvery Arches); 7, POLIA bombycina (Pale-shining Brown); 8, Pachetra sagittigera britannica (Feathered Ear); 9, Sideridis albicolon (White Colon); 10, Melanchra persicariae (The Dot); 11, Hada plebeja (The Shears); 12, Heliophobus reticulata (Bordered Gothic); 13, Mamestra brassicae (Cabbage Moth). From Newman, 1869. • Noctuinae and Hadeninae: Kirby. NOCTUINAE. 1,Rhacia simulans (True Lover's Knot); 2, Acylia putris (Flame); 3, Agrotis exclamationis (Heart and Dart); 4, Euxoa tritica (White Line Dart); 5, Agrotis ipsilon (Dark Sword-grass); 6, Agrotis segetum (Common Dart, or Turnip Moth); 7, Agrotis vestigialis (Archer's Dart); 8, Ochropleura praecox (Portland Moth); 9, Anaplectoides prasina (Green Arches); 10, Eurois occulta (Great Brocade). HADENINAE. 11, Cerapteryx graminis (Antler Moth); 12, Tholera decimalis (Feathered Gothic); 13, Pacheta sagittigera (Feathered Ear); 14, Polia bombycina (Pale Shining Brown); 15, Polia trimaculosa (Silvery Arches); 16, Polia nebulosa (Grey Arches); 17, Lacanobia contigua (Beautiful Brocade); 18, Ceramica pisi (Broom Moth); 19, Mamestra brassicae (Cabbage Moth); 20, Melanchra persicariae (Dot). From Kirby 35.
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’.
