| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Calocampa Stephens
Adults. Head rough. Eyes glabrous; ciliated. Antennae of males ciliate.
Wingspan 52–66 mm. Head and collar pale, the rest of the thorax dark brown, cf. the light and dark components of the forewings, the abdomen coloured like the hindwings. Forewings dark brown- or fuscous-and-buff; longitudinally streaked to complexly patterned; the patterning well marked (the complex patterning noticably deficient in transverse lines); neither shining-metallic nor with shining metallic effects; reniform defined; orbicular defined to undefined; claviform undefined. Hindwings whitish-fuscous, or fuscous; plain, or 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 (prominently anteriorly, only slightly posteriorly). Posterior tibiae without spines. Abdomen crested.
Living adults found September to December, or January to April (both species hibernating).
Larvae, pupae. Larvae with red markings (in the form of an interrupted line low on the sides), or without red markings; posteriorly rounded; feeding on diverse herbaceous Dicots, Cyperaceae, Iris; pupating on the surface of the ground.
British representation. 2 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, Southern Scotland, Northern Scotland, Wales, and Ireland (common); exsoleta (The Sword-grass), vetusta (The Red Sword-grass).
Cuculliinae.
Illustrations. • Cuculliinae: Xylena exsoleta (Large Sword-Grass, Cloudy Sword-grass: B. Ent. 256). • Xylena exsoleta: B. Ent. 256, legend+text. • Xylena exsoleta: B. Ent. 256, text cont.. • Xylena vetusta (Red Sword-grass) and X. exsoleta (The Sword-grass), with Cucullia and Xylocampa: Newman. 1, Cucullia absinthii (Wormwood Shark); 2, Cucullia chamomillae (Chamomile Shark); 3, Cucullia umbratica (The Shark); 4, Cucullia asteris (Star-wort Shark); 5, Cucullia lychnitis (Striped Lychnis Shark); 6, Cucullia gnaphalii occidentalis (Cudweed Shark); 7, Cucullia scrophulariae (Water Betony Shark); 8, Cucullia verbasci (Mullein Shark); 9, Xylena vetusta (Red Sword-grass); 10, Xylena exsoleta (The Sword-grass); 11, Xylocampa areola (Early Grey). From Newman, 1869. • Cuculliinae: Kirby. CUCULLIINAE. 1, Xanthia gilvago (Dusky Lemon Sallow); 2, Jodia croceago (Orange Upper-wing); 3, “Mecoptera fragariae”, = ?; 4, Conistra erythrocephala (Red-headed Chestnut); 5, “Orrhodia silene”, = ?; 6, Conistra vacciniae (Chestnut); 7, Conistra rubiginea (Dotted Chestnut); 8, Eupsilia transversa (Satellite); 10, Lithophane socia (Pale Pinion); 11, Lithophane furcifera; 12, Lithophane ornitopus (Grey Shoulder-knot); 13, Xylena vetusta (Red Sword-Grass); 14, Xylena exsoleta (Sword-Grass); 15, Lithomoia solidaginis (Golden-rod Brindle); 17, Brachionycha nebulosa (Rannoch Sprawler); 18, Brachionycha sphinx (Sprawler); 19, Calophasia opalina; 20, Calophasia lunula (Flax Moth). OPHIDERINAE. 9, Scoliopteryx libatrix (Herald). From Kirby 37, with updated names.
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’.
