Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Noctuidae Scientific name Autographa jota | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Genus Autographa Rank Species | |
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Similar Autographa pulchrina, Gold spangle, Abrostola tripartita, Diachrysia chrysitis, Macdunnoughia confusa | ||
The Plain Golden Y (Autographa jota) is a moth of the Noctuidae family. The nominate form is found in Europe. Subspecies Autographa jota anatolica is found in Southern Balkans, South-western Asia, Turkey, the Caucasus, North-western Iran.
Contents
Description
The wingspan is 36–44 millimetres (1.4–1.7 in).Forewing pale dull rosy, with olive fuscous shading; a brown spot at middle of base: inner and outer lines nearly straight, edged with brown; median area from inner margin to above middle ferruginous brown; a small V-shaped spot on vein 2 and a small round spot close beyond it pale golden; reniform stigma in part brownish edged; subterminal line suffusedly margined with olive brown, except above anal angle; hindwing fuscous brown, the terminal border darker; in the rarer form percontationis Tr. the two golden marks are coalescent; on the other hand the outer spot, and sometimes both, may be wanting as in the ab. inscripta Esp.; in the form inscripta, from the Baltic provinces of Bussia, the ground colour is much darker, especially in the lower part of the median area; a similar dark form, but with the golden markings confluent as in percontationis Tr., — subsp. [now species Autographa monogramma (Alphéraky, 1887)] monogramma Alph. is met with in Turkestan and the Ussuri district.
Biology
The moth flies from June to August depending on the location.
The larvae feed on the leaves of a wide range of plants, including Urtica, Lamium, Stachys, Galeopsis, Eupatorium cannabinum, Vaccinium myrtillus, Salvia and Senecio.
Subpspecies
There are two recognised subspecies:
