| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Laphygma Guenée, Prodenia Guénee
Adults. Head fairly smooth. Eyes glabrous; not ciliated. Antennae of males ciliate.
Wingspan 26–32 mm. Thorax and abdomen coloured like the forewings, darker than the hindwings. Forewings grey or grey and dark fuscuous; complexly patterned; the patterning well marked (S. littoralis), or obscure; reniform defined; orbicular defined; claviform defined, or undefined. Hindwings white to whitish (sub-hyaline); plain; 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 (posteriorly). Middle tibiae without spines. Posterior tibiae without spines; with appressed scales. Abdomen basally crested.
Living adults found June and July.
Larvae, pupae. Larvae posteriorly humped to posteriorly rounded; feeding on diverse Dicot herbs; pupating on the surface of the ground, or in the soil.
British representation. 3 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, Wales, and Ireland (coastal); cilium (Dark Mottled Willow, a possible migrant first recorded 1990), exigua (Small Mottled Willow), littoralis (Mediterranean Brocade).
Amphipyrinae.
Illustrations. • S. exigua (Small Mottled Willow), and 14 related genera: Newman. 1, Panemeria tenebrata (Small Yellow Underwing); 2, Elaphria venustula (The Rosy Marbled); 3, Archanara geminipuncta (Twin-spotted Wainscot); 4(a) and (b), Archanara dissoluta (Brown-veined Wainscot); 5, Archanara algae ( Reed Wainscot); 6, Oria musculosa (Brighton Wainscot); 7, Rhizedra lutosa (Large Wainscot); 8(a)-(d), Charanyca trigrammica (Treble Lines); 9, Arenostola phragmitidis (Fen Wainscot); 10, Hoplodrina alsines (The Uncertain); 11, Hoplodrina blanda (The Rustic); 12, Caradrina morpheus (Mottled Rustic); 13, Caradrina clavipalpis (Pale Mottled Willow); 14(a)-(d), Chilodes peltigera (Silky Wainscot); 15, Stilbia anomala (The Anomalous); 16, SPODOPTERA exigua (Small Mottled Willow); 17, Acosmetia caliginosa (The Reddish Buff); 18, Coenobia rufa (Small Rufous); 19, Athetis pallustris (Marsh Moth). 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’.
