Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Noctuidae Scientific name Hoplodrina blanda | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Genus Hoplodrina Rank Species | |
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Similar Hoplodrina, Hoplodrina octogenaria, Hoplodrina ambigua, Caradrina morpheus, Marbled minor | ||
Hoplodrina blanda ( the rustic) is a moth of the family Noctuoidea. It is found in the Palearctic ecozone (Europe, Morocco, Iran, Russia – south Urals,and south-west Siberia).
Contents
Technical description and variation
The wingspan is 31–35 mm. The length of the forewings is 13–16 mm.Forewing fawn-tinged grey, with a fuscous suffusion, with the ground colour sometimes paler, more luteous ochreous, especially in examples from W. Turkestan; costal edge pale; inner and outer lines obscurely marked; the median and praesubmarginal shades distinct; stigmata fuscous grey, with pale annuli; hindwing whitish, grey-tinged towards termen; the veins and cell mark darker; altogether darker grey in the female. Occurs throughout Northern and Central Europe and in Central Asia. These Asiatic examples — from Issyk-Kul; the defile of Little Kisil-su, Tianshan; Kappak, Alexander Mts.; and Ketmen-tjube, Sussamyr Mts.; must be separated certainly as an ab. centralasiae ab. nov. [Warren] though very possibly a distinct species; the ground colour of the forewing is paler, tinged with pinkish brown along the two folds, and the dark markings stand out more conspicuously; the costal edge is pale; the hindwing, even in the female, is whiter, showing a distinct cell spot. Described from a series of more than a dozen males but only one female, from the above-mentioned localities; the type male from Kappak, the female from Ketmen-tjube. Similar to and confused with Hoplodrina octogenaria and Hoplodrina ambigua. Certain identification requires dissection of the genitalia.
Biology
The moth flies in one generation from late May to early September. [1].
Larva ochreous with red or brown suffusion and dotted with dark; dorsal line yellowish edged with small black marks; subdorsal lines pale, dark-edged below; head pale marked with darker: on sundry low plants. The larvae feed on herbaceous plants such as Plantago, Stellaria and Rumex.
