NOCTUIDAE | Noctuinae

73.343 Noctua fimbriata (Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing)

fw: 22-27mm (Waring & Townsend), ws: 50-58mm (MBGBI9); Jul-Sep; various herbaceous plants; common throughout GB.
Picture
Noctua fimbriata (Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing) §4 male
ID: Sexually dimorphic with male dark and female pale. Large and stout with a constant and readily recognised pattern. Ground colour varies - male: reddish-brown to olive-green, female: pale brown, pale reddish-brown or light green. Basal and antemedian lines darker than ground colour; pale (anterior) median fascia through whitish-outlined oval; darker (posterior) median fascia through whitish-outlined kidney; whitish postemedian and subterminal lines; pale subterminal fascia with a patch of ground colour in the distal half of its costal end, containing 2 white costal spots; hindwing bright yellow with a broad black subterminal fascia. MBGBI9 gives named forms as follows:
Male: brunnea - fw reddish-brown well-marked; solani - fw olive-green and well-marked; nigrescens - fw dark hw suffused fuscous
Female: fimbriata? - fw pale ochreous; virescens - fw tinted light greenish; rufa - fw light reddish-brown
  • Variation
  • Dissection
  • Male genitalia
  • Female genitalia
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§1 Westcliff-on-sea, Essex; 16/08/2006; male
§2 Foulness, Essex; 13/07/2008; male
§3 Foulness, Essex; 04/07/2009; male; fw 24.5mm
§4 Snettisham, Norfolk; 05/07/2013; male
​§5 New Forest, Hampshire; 05/09/2013; male
​§6 Foulden Common, Norfolk; 29/06/2017; female
​§7 Foulness, Essex; 12/09/2020; male; fw 23.8mm
All images © Chris Lewis
Page published 15/03/2017 (§1-5) | §6 added 08/04/2018 | §7 added 24/12/2020