| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Dysthymia Newman
Adults. Head loosely scaled. Eyes glabrous; not ciliated. Antennae of males ciliate. Labial palps medium; ascending.
Wingspan 25–29 mm. Forewings blackish or dark fuscous; rosy marked or tinged, or neither purplish nor rosy marked or tinged; complexly patterned; the patterning well marked (only slightly marbled for the most part, but with a conspicuous white or rosy post-median fascia adjoining the costa, small pale spots subterminally, and pale blotching at the inner angle); reniform undefined (subsumed in a white or rosy fascia); orbicular undefined; claviform undefined. Hindwings dark fuscous and yellowish, or blackish; conspicuously patterned (fuscous, with a whitish median band expanding to a whitish mark in the marginal dark band near the inner angle); transversely lined (there being a light line in the marginal band); exhibiting vein 5. Vein 5 of the hindwings strong; arising nearer to vein 4 than to vein 6. Thorax slightly crested (posteriorly). Middle tibiae without spines. Posterior tibiae with spines; with appressed scales. Abdomen crested to not crested (with no more than a small basal crest).
Living adults found May, June, and August.
Larvae, pupae. Larvae feeding on Convolvulus, eating unexpanded flower buds, nocturnally; pupating on the surface of the ground, or in the soil.
British representation. 1 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, and English Midlands; luctuosa (The Four-spotted).
Ophiderinae.
Illustrations. • Tyta luctuosa (The Four-spotted), and other Ophiderinae: Newman. 1(a)-(c), Tyta luctuosa (The Four-spotted); 2, Catephia alchymista (The Alchymist); 3, Scoliopteryx libatrix (The Herald); 4, Lygephila pastinum (Blackneck); 5, Lygephila craccae (Scarce Blackneck); 6, Phytometra viridaria (Small Purple-barred); 7, Parascotia fuliginaria (Waved Black). From Newman, 1869. • British Ophiderinae: Swain. 1, Tyta luctuosa (The Four-spotted); 2*, Tathorhynchus exsiccata (Levant Blackneck: Amphipyrinae); 3, Lygephila pastinum (Blackneck); 4, Lygephila cracca (Scarce Blackneck); 5, Colobochyla salicalis (Lesser Belle); 6, Rivula sericealis (Straw Dot); 7, Scoliopteryx libatrix (Herald); 8, Phytometra viridaria (Small Purple-barred); 9, Parascotia fuliginaria (Waved Black); 10, Laspeyria flexula (Beautiful Hook-tip). Swain, 1961. • Ophiderinae: Kirby. OPHIDERINAE. 1, Catephia alchymista (The Alchymist); 2, Aedia funesta; 9, Scoliopteryx libatrix (The Herald); 14, Tyta luctuosa (The Four-spotted). From Kirby 37 and 42.
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’.
