| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Adults. Head rough. Eyes glabrous; ciliated. Antennae of males ciliate.
Wingspan 32–40 mm. Forewings grey; grey; complexly patterned; the patterning well marked (with contrasty dark grey or blackish markings); reniform defined; orbicular defined (joined with the reniform forming a doggie-bone figure); claviform defined. Hindwings grey; plain to terminally darkened; with a clear discal mark to without a clear discal mark; faintly transversely lined; exhibiting vein 5. Vein 5 of the hindwings weak; arising nearer to vein 6 than to vein 4. Thorax crested (prominently anteriorly). Posterior tibiae without spines. Abdomen crested.
Living adults found March and April.
Larvae, pupae. Larvae posteriorly tapered; feeding on Lonicera; pupating on the surface of the ground, or in the soil (?).
British representation. 1 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, Southern Scotland, Northern Scotland, Wales, and Ireland (scarcer northwards); areola (The Early Grey).
Cuculliinae.
Illustrations. • Xylocampa areola (Early Grey), with Cucullia and Xylena: 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.
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’.
