The flame shoulder (''Ochropleura plecta'') 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 Carl Linnaeus in 1761. It is distributed throughout the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

from Ireland in the west to Siberia then Korea and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in the east. The forewings of this species are reddish brown with a black streak interrupted by white stigmata and a creamy-yellow streak along the costa which gives the species its common name. The hindwings are pure white.

Technical description and variation

The wingspan is 28–34 mm. Forewing red brown suffused with purple; costal streak broadly cream colour to outer line, sometimes red speckled; cell and a basal streak below median vein blackish or deep red; orbicular and reniform stigmata with bright pale rings and grey centres, the latter followed by a small black blotch; lines rarely visible; hindwing whitish; patagia red-brown; dorsum greyish fuscous, sometimes with basal half cream coloured, sometimes wholly cream coloured. The ab. ''unimacula'' Stgr. ow ssp.from Spain has the orbicular stigma obsolete; — in ab. ''anderssoni'' Lampa from Scandinavia the forewing is blackish purple; in ab. ''glaucimacula'' Graes. from Amurland the stigmata are smaller, as in ''

leucogaster ''Leucogaster'' is a fungal genus in the family Albatrellaceae. The genus, widespread in northern temperate regions, contains about 20 truffle A truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, predominantly one of the ...

'' Frr. ow full speciesand pearl grey in colour; the outer line of forewing well marked and indicated on hindwing also by vein-dots; patagia black brown; — ab. '' ignota'' uncertainly ranked by Swinh., described in the first instance from

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, has the cell red like the rest of wing; European examples of this form are generally entirety pale red, with the costal streak red-speckled and usually females.

Biology

Two broods are produced each year with adults flying from April to June and again in August and September. It flies at night and is attracted to light and sugar and also to the flowers of ragwort. The

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

is brownish. Ventral area yellowish. There are fine dark line found on dorsal area. Stigmata black in color. The larva, grey with a yellow stripe along each side, feeds on a range of plants (see list below). This species overwinters as a pupa. Schwerter Wald

Recorded food plants

*''Arachis'' – peanut *''

Aster Aster or ASTER may refer to: Biology * ''Aster'' (genus), a genus of flowering plants ** List of ''Aster'' synonyms, other genera formerly included in ''Aster'' and still called asters in English * Aster (cell biology), a cellular structure shap ...

'' *''Beta'' – beet *'' Galium'' – bedstraw *'' Plantago'' – plantain *''

Rumex The docks and sorrels, genus ''Rumex'', are a genus of about 200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. Members of this genus are very common perennial herbs with a native almost worldwide distribu ...

'' – docks and sorrel *''Salix'' – willow *'' Senecio'' – groundsel *''Trifolium'' – clover See Robinson, G. S et al.

Subspecies

* ''O. p. plecta'' – Europe except Iberian Peninsula * ''O. p. unimacula'' – Iberian Peninsula

Notes

References

* Chinery, Michael ''Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe'' 1986 (Reprinted 1991) * Skinner, Bernard ''Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles'' 1984

External links

"73.329 BF2102 Flame Shoulder ''Ochropleura plecta'' (Linnaeus, 1761)"
''UKMoths''. Retrieved January 15, 2019. *
"10086 ''Ochropleura plecta'' (Linnaeus,
''Lepiforum e.V.'' Retrieved January 15, 2019. {{Taxonbar ">from=Q1603074 Ochropleura Moths described in 1761">760]) - Hellrandige Erdeule"
''Lepiforum e.V.'' Retrieved January 15, 2019. {{Taxonbar ">from=Q1603074 Ochropleura Moths described in 1761 Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Moths of Japan Insects of Turkey Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus