Ctenoplusia accentifera

Ctenoplusia accentifera
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Ctenoplusia
Species:
C. accentifera
Binomial name
Ctenoplusia accentifera
(Lefèbvre, 1827)
Synonyms
  • Plusia accentifera
  • Plusia l-aureum
  • Ctenoplusia hieroglyphica
  • Agrapha accentifera

Ctenoplusia accentifera is a moth of the family Noctuidae and is found in Africa, Asia and Europe. It was first described, in 1827, by the French entomologist Alexandre Louis Lefèbvre de Cérisy, from a specimen found in Sicily.[1]

Technical description and variation

P. accentifera Lef Forewing dull pinkish grey dusted with darker, and with irregular olive brown patches; lines pale; inconspicuous; the inner oblique outwards to median vein, then waved inwards, followed by brown patches; outer line lunulate, between two brown shades, interrupted below middle by a large brown blotch; a brown blotch from apex, a triangular one below middle of termen, and some small patches along subterminal line, which bears a black white-edged tooth between veins 2 and 3; the mark below median inconspicuous, yellowish grey, laterally finely edged with silvery, oblique and parallel; hindwing brownish, with dark outer line and broad smoky fuscous border. Larva green, with white dorsal and double white subdorsal lines; spiracular white, less conspicuous in front, yellower behind; tubercles black with long hairs.[2] The wingspan is about 25 mm.

Biology

The larvae are known to feed on water mint (Mentha aquatica), horse mint (Mentha rotundifolia) in Europe. Also found on vervain (Verbena species), and Cineraria, Coleus and Cichorium species.

Distribution

It is found over most of Africa, the Azores, southern Europe (from Portugal to Greece) and the Lebanon. A rare migrant, there are two British records; the first in September, 1969 at Halstead, Kent and the second in October 2014 at Exmouth, Devon.[1][3]

References

  1. 1 2 Heath, John; Maitland Emmet, A, eds. (1983). The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland. Colchester: Harley Books. p. 328. ISBN 0-946589-17-8.
  2. ↑ Warren. W. in Seitz, A. Ed., 1914 Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde, Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart Band 3: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen eulenartigen Nachtfalter, 1914Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ↑ Clancy, Sean P (2015). "Occurrences of the Rarer Immigrant and Adventive Moths in 2014. In Migration Review 2014". Atropos: 14–21. ISSN 1478-8128.
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