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Orthosia populeti

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Lead-coloured drab
Orthosia populeti
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Orthosia
Species:
O. populeti
Binomial name
Orthosia populeti
(Fabricius, 1775)

Orthosia populeti, the lead-coloured drab, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in Europe.

The wingspan is 34–40 mm. The length of the forewings is 15–17 mm. Meyrick describes it -Antennae in male bipectinated. Forewings brown-grey, slightly purplish-tinged ; first, median, and second lines somewhat darker, especially on costa ; orbicular and reniform darker, outlined with pale ; subterminal line pale greyish-ochreous, edged anteriorly in middle with two small red-brown or black marks. Hindwings grey. Larva pale green or greenish-whitish ; dorsal, subdorsal, and spiracular lines whitish ; head pale greenish-ochreous, more or less blackmarked.[1] Orthosia populeti is difficult to certainly distinguish from its congener Orthosia incerta See Townsend et al.[2]

Figs.3, 3a, 3b larva after last moult

The moth flies in one generation from the beginning of March to May [1]. The egg is greyish white with dark grey girdled dots. When full grown the caterpillar is whitish or yellowish green, but always whitish on the back: three white lines on the back, the central one rather broad; head ochreous brown with a blackish spot on each side. The caterpillars mainly feed on aspen.

Notes

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  1. ^ The flight season refers to Belgium and the Netherlands. This may vary in other parts of the range.

References

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  1. ^ Meyrick, E., 1895 A Handbook of British Lepidoptera MacMillan, London pdf Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ^ Martin C. Townsend, Jon Clifton and Brian Goodey (2010). British and Irish Moths: An Illustrated Guide to Selected Difficult Species. (covering the use of genitalia characters and other features) Butterfly Conservation.
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