70.228 Epione vespertaria (Dark Bordered Beauty)
fw: 12-14mm (Waring & Townsend); Jul-Aug; aspen (Populus tremula), creeping willow (Salix repens);
RDB 3 sites in Scotland (Insh marshes) and 2 in England (Strenshall common, Yorkshire; Newham Bog, Northumberland)
RDB 3 sites in Scotland (Insh marshes) and 2 in England (Strenshall common, Yorkshire; Newham Bog, Northumberland)
Epione vespertaria (Dark Bordered Beauty) §1 male
ID: Male: similar to E.repandaria (Bordered Beauty) but averages smaller. Wings orange with brown reticulation and dashes and a broad brown terminal border. In E.repandaria the forewing border tapers to the apex; in E.verspertaria it is of fairly even width not tapering to the apex. In E.verspertaria the postmedian line of both forewing and hindwing (at the junction of orange and brown colours) is more deeply and unevenly scalloped than it is in E.repandaria. In E.vespertaria the brown subbasal line of the forewing is smoothly curved while in E.repandaria it is distinctly angled. The male has a bipectinate antenna, simple in the female.
Female: In E.repandaria the sexes are otherwise similar, but in E.vespertaria the female has the orange colour between the subbasal and postmedian lines of the forewing and proximal to the postmedian line of the hindwing replaced by lemon yellow and these yellow areas are much less reticulated. The brownish terminal border has a deep indentation which narrows it at about halfway between apex and tornus on both forewing and hindwing and on the forewing it tapers somewhat to the apex so that the border does not extend so far along the costa as it does in the male.
Female: In E.repandaria the sexes are otherwise similar, but in E.vespertaria the female has the orange colour between the subbasal and postmedian lines of the forewing and proximal to the postmedian line of the hindwing replaced by lemon yellow and these yellow areas are much less reticulated. The brownish terminal border has a deep indentation which narrows it at about halfway between apex and tornus on both forewing and hindwing and on the forewing it tapers somewhat to the apex so that the border does not extend so far along the costa as it does in the male.
Epione vespertaria (Dark Bordered Beauty) §2 female
§1 Insh Marshes, Inverness-shire; 01/08/2023; male
§2 Insh Marshes, Inverness-shire; 02/08/2023; female
§3 Insh Marshes, Inverness-shire; 02/08/2023; male
All images © Chris Lewis
§2 Insh Marshes, Inverness-shire; 02/08/2023; female
§3 Insh Marshes, Inverness-shire; 02/08/2023; male
All images © Chris Lewis
Page published 03/08/2023
