Kingdom Animalia Family Noctuidae Scientific name Polychrysia moneta Rank Species | Class Insecta Genus Polychrysia Phylum Arthropoda Order Butterflies and moths | |
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Similar Butterflies and moths, Autographa pulchrina, Autographa jota, Lamprotes c‑aureum, Plusia putnami | ||
Polychrysia moneta, the golden plusia, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in the Palearctic ecozone (Europe, Asia Minor, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Caucasus, north-west Iran).
Contents
Technical description and variation
The wingspan is 32–37 mm. Forewing pale golden, diffusely tinged in median area with brown and sprinkled with black scales; the veins brown; the median shade conspicuously dark brown, thick, angled in middle: lines brown, double; the inner acutely angled on subcostal, below middle inwardly curved; outer line lunulate dentate; basal area flaked with golden scales; a pale golden apical blotch, cut and edged below by the brown submarginal line, which is rarely plain below middle; orbicular stigma large, oblique, horseshoe-shaped, with broad silvery outline and gold and brown centre, coalescing with a similar but inverted mark on vein 2; reniform hardly traceable; hindwing shining fuscous;the fringe pale.
Biology
The moth flies from May to October depending on the location.
Larva dull dark green,black spotted, living when young in the heart of the central shoots; later, with dark dorsal vessel, limited by several whitish lines and a white lateral line. The larvae feed on Delphinium, Artemisia absinthium and Artemisia vulgaris.
