| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Adults. Head rough. Eyes glabrous; ciliated. Antennae of males shortly ciliate. Tongue well developed. Labial palps medium to long; ascending.
Wingspan 38–44 mm. Forewings fuscous, brown and gold; brown and fuscous; neither green nor greenish tinged; neither purplish nor rosy marked or tinged; complexly patterned (complexly patterned); the patterning well marked; exhibiting metallic-enamelled effects; reniform defined; orbicular defined. Hindwings fuscous; terminally darkened; without a clear discal mark; 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. Middle tibiae without spines. Posterior tibiae with spines; rough-scaled. Abdomen crested.
Living adults found July and September.
Larvae, pupae. Ventral prolegs 4. Larvae posteriorly humped to posteriorly rounded; feeding on Aconitum and Delphinium; pupating on vegetative parts of the foodplant (in a tough, yellow cocoon beneath a leaf).
British representation. 1 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, English Midlands, and Northern England; moneta (Golden Plusia).
Plusiinae.
Illustrations. • Polychrysia moneta (Golden Plusia, with other Plusiinae: photos). Figs. 1–2, Autographa gamma (Silver Y); 3–4, Autographa pulchrina (Beautiful Golden Y); 5–6, Autographa jota (Plain Golden Y); 7–8, Polychrysia moneta (Golden Plusia); 9–10, Diachrysia chrysitis (Burnished Brass); 11–12, Plusia festucae (Gold Spot).
1–2, Cheddleton near Leek, Staffs., Sept. 1952; 3–6 and 9–12, Cheddleton, July 1952. 7–8, Leek, July 1951. From Watson’s collection. • P. moneta (Golden Plusia), with Cuculliinae and other Plusiinae: Kirby. CUCULLIINAE. 1, Cucullia verbasci (Mullein Shark); 2, Cucullia asteris (Starwort Shark); 3 and 5, Cucullia umbratica (Shark); 4, Cucullia lactucae (Lettuce Shark); 5, Cucullia umbratica (Shark); 6, Cucullia chamomillae (Chamomile Shark); 7, Cucullia artemisiae (Scarce Wormwood Shark); 8, Cucullia absinthii (Wormwood Shark); 9, Cucullia argentea (Green Silver-spangle); 10, Eutelia adulatrix; 11, Allophyes oxyacanthae ab. capucina (Green-brindled Crescent, var.); 12, Eucarta amethystina . PLUSIINAE. 13, Abrostola trigemina (Dark Spectacle); 14, Abrostola triplasia (Spectacle); 15, Lamprotes c-aureum; 16, Polychrysia moneta (Golden Plusia); 17, Euchalia consona; 18, Euchalcia modestoides; 19, Diachrysia chrysitis (Burnished Brass); 20, Autographa bractea (Gold Spangle); 21, Plusia festucae (Gold Spot); 22, Autographa jota (Plain Golden Y); 23, Autographa gamma (Silver Y); 24, Syngrapha interrogationis (Scarce Silver Y); 25, Syngrapha ain; 26, Syngrapha hochenwarthi. From Kirby 41.
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’.
