73.146 Photedes captiuncula (Least Minor)
fw: 7-9mm (Waring & Townsend), ws: ~18mm male, ~16mm female (MBGBI10); Jun-Aug, diurnal; glaucous sedge (Carex flacca); RDB on limestone grassland in S.Cumbria, N.Yorkshire, Northumberland and Durham.
The British subspecies is expolita
The British subspecies is expolita
ID: The smallest and most slender British Noctuid. Forewing usually brown and shows an indistinct fairly straight white antemedian line and a curved white postmedian line which is more strongly marked in the female; between these lines is a median fascia usually darker than the ground colour; stigmata usually obscured but kidney mark may be discernible immediately proximal to the curve of the postmedian line.
Mesoligia furuncula (Cloaked Minor) can be similarly marked but is larger (fw: 10-12mm) with a relatively narrow forewing.
Mesoligia furuncula (Cloaked Minor) can be similarly marked but is larger (fw: 10-12mm) with a relatively narrow forewing.
Female genitalia
§1 Warton Crag, Lancashire; 18/06/2014; female; fw 7.0mm
§2 Warton Crag, Lancashire; 18/06/2014; male; fw 7.9mm
§3 Great Asby Scar, Cumbria; 19/06/2017; male; fw 8.5mm
§4 Great Asby Scar, Cumbria; 19/06/2017; male; fw 7.8mm
All images © Chris Lewis
§2 Warton Crag, Lancashire; 18/06/2014; male; fw 7.9mm
§3 Great Asby Scar, Cumbria; 19/06/2017; male; fw 8.5mm
§4 Great Asby Scar, Cumbria; 19/06/2017; male; fw 7.8mm
All images © Chris Lewis
Page published 10/03/2016 (§1&2) | §3&4 added 15/03/2018