The broad-barred white (''Hecatera bicolorata'') is a
moth of the family
Noctuidae
The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family of moths. They are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the other f ...
. The species was
first described by
Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is distributed throughout Europe and is also found in
Turkey,
Iran,
Israel,
Lebanon,
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
,
Kirghizia
Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...
,
Tajikistan, western
Siberia and
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
Description
This is a fairly small (
wingspan 28–35 mm) distinctive species. The white or sometimes bluish-grey forewings are marked with a broad dark olive-fuscous median band. The claviform stigma is black edged; upper stigmata are pale grey with dark centres. The base and outer area of forewing and the head and thorax are pure white. The hindwings are whitish grey with veins and marginal border fuscous. The hindwings are darker in the female.
This species flies at night from June to August and is attracted to light and various
flowers.
The
larva is brown or green with darker diamonds along the back. It feeds on the flowers and buds of various yellow-flowered
Asteraceae such as
hawksbeards,
hawkweeds and
sow thistle
Sow thistle most often refers to yellow flowered, thistle-like plants in the genus ''Sonchus
''Sonchus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae and are commonly known as sow thistles (less commonly ...
s.
The species overwinters as a
pupa.
Notes
References
*
Chinery, Michael ''Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe'' 1986 (Reprinted 1991)
*
Skinner, Bernard ''
The Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles
''The Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles (Macrolepidoptera)'' by Bernard Skinner is a single volume identification guide to the macromoths of Britain and Ireland published by Viking Books, often referred by moth recorders ...
'' 1984
External links
*
* Taxonomy
''Lepiforum e.V.''
Hecatera
Moths described in 1766
Moths of Asia
Moths of Europe
Moths of the Middle East
Taxa named by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel
{{Hadenini-stub