73.119 Helotropha leucostigma (Crescent)
ws: 35-41mm (MBGBI10) fw: 14-17mm (Waring & Townsend)*; Jul-Sep; yellow iris (Iris pseudacorus), great fen-sedge (Cladium mariscus); local in fen, reed bed, marsh and boggy moorland, ssp leucostigma in England, Wales and S.Scotland, ssp scotica in N.Scotland
*Note that these quoted size ranges hardly overlap. MBGBI10 gives the mean fw length of ssp leucostigma as 17mm and ssp scotica as 15mm
Synonym: Celaena leucostigma (MBGBI10, Waring & Townsend, Pierce)
*Note that these quoted size ranges hardly overlap. MBGBI10 gives the mean fw length of ssp leucostigma as 17mm and ssp scotica as 15mm
Synonym: Celaena leucostigma (MBGBI10, Waring & Townsend, Pierce)
Helotropha leucostigma (Crescent) §9; ssp leucostigma form leucostigma
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Helotropha leucostigma (Crescent) §8; ssp leucostigma form lunina
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Helotropha leucostigma (Crescent) §6 male; ssp leucostigma form fibrosa
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Helotropha leucostigma (Crescent) §12 male; ssp scotica
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ID: All forms have an arched (concave) costa, a pointed forewing apex, a well-marked pale-outlined kidney mark with a pale crescent within and a poorly marked oval that is almost as large as the kidney mark.
ssp leucostigma: Form leucostigma: Forewing ground colour ranges from red-brown to fuscous-brown and is almost unmarked apart from the pale kidney mark. Form fibrosa: Forewing ground colour mahogany brown; 2 white-lined veins extend distally from the dorsal end of the kidney mark towards a well-marked subterminal fascia; pale dorsal streak. Intermediate form lunina is more common than form fibrosa.
ssp scotica is smaller and darker than ssp leucostigma with the pale areas more contrasting; it has a similar range of forms.
Well-marked forms may be similar to Celaena haworthii (Haworth’s Minor) which also has a white kidney mark with 2 white streaks extending from it towards the termen. C.haworthii is smaller (fw: 10-14mm) and has a prominent small pale oval mark, a more rounded forewing apex and the costa is almost straight. Mesapamea secalis/didyma (Common / Lesser Common Rustic) can also be very similar but they also have a rounded forewing apex.
ssp leucostigma: Form leucostigma: Forewing ground colour ranges from red-brown to fuscous-brown and is almost unmarked apart from the pale kidney mark. Form fibrosa: Forewing ground colour mahogany brown; 2 white-lined veins extend distally from the dorsal end of the kidney mark towards a well-marked subterminal fascia; pale dorsal streak. Intermediate form lunina is more common than form fibrosa.
ssp scotica is smaller and darker than ssp leucostigma with the pale areas more contrasting; it has a similar range of forms.
Well-marked forms may be similar to Celaena haworthii (Haworth’s Minor) which also has a white kidney mark with 2 white streaks extending from it towards the termen. C.haworthii is smaller (fw: 10-14mm) and has a prominent small pale oval mark, a more rounded forewing apex and the costa is almost straight. Mesapamea secalis/didyma (Common / Lesser Common Rustic) can also be very similar but they also have a rounded forewing apex.
Pierce places H.leucostigma, Celaena haworthii (Haworth's Minor), Mesapamea secalis (Common Rustic) and M.didyma (Lesser Common Rustic) all in genus Celaena partly on the basis that they share the feature of having no signa in the bursa copulatrix. H.leucostigma clearly does have 2 long and one short linear signa so it seems that Pierce was mistaken about this.
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§1 Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk; 15/07/2008
§2 Sutton Fen, Norfolk; 22/07/2008; fw 18.2mm §3 Aberfoyle, Perthshire; 22/08/2008; female; fw 17.1mm §4 Surlingham, Norfolk; 24/07/2009; male; fw 17.3mm §5 Surlingham, Norfolk; 24/07/2009; male §6 Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk; 26/07/2012; male §7 Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk; 26/07/2012; male §8 Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk; 26/07/2012 §9 Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk; 26/07/2012 All images © Chris Lewis |
§10 Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk; 26/07/2012; male
§11 Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk; 23/08/2012; male §12 Fersit, inverness-shire; 01/08/2013; male; fw 16.7mm §13 Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk; 26/07/2014; male; fw 16.8mm §14 Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk; 07/08/2015; female; fw 15.8mm §15 Foulness, Essex; 14/08/2021; male; fw 15.4mm §16 St Marys, Isles of Scilly; ??/??/20??; female; fw 16.4mm §17 Loch Fyne, Argyll; 29/07/2022 |
Page published 24/02/2016 (§1-13) | §14 added 07/04/2016 | §15 added 13/12/2021 | §16 added 27/12/2021 | §17 added 22/12/2022
