''Polia hepatica'', the silvery arches, is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

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 Alexander Clerck in 1759. It is found in temperate Europe and east across 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 ...

to Siberia and Korea. It is not present in northernmost

Fennoscandia __NOTOC__ Fennoscandia (Finnish language, Finnish, Swedish language, Swedish and no, Fennoskandia, nocat=1; russian: Фенноскандия, Fennoskandiya) or the Fennoscandian Peninsula is the geographical peninsula in Europe, which includes ...

and the southern parts of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. It is also absent from

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 ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 39–47 mm. Forewing paler than in '' advena'', more bluish grey, sometimes blue green, without dark suffusion except in median area ; stigmata as in ''advena'', the orbicular pale and conspicuous; submarginal line preceded by black brown scales on both folds not forming wedge-shaped marks, and not indented on the submedian fold; hindwing fuscous with dark discal lunule and pale postmedian line. — the form ''obscurata'' Stgr. from Amurland is smaller and darker; ''hepatica'' Hbn. represents the form with blue green coloration and brown suffusion; in ''suffusa'' Tutt the median area is more concisely brown than the rest of the wing. — Larva reddish brown, with fine dark and light mottling; dorsal line slender, white, edged with black; lateral line broader; head pale brown. Warren. W. in Seitz, A. Ed., 1914 ''Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde'', Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart Band 3: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen eulenartigen Nachtfalter, 1914

Biology

Adults are on wing from the end of May to the beginning of August in one generation. The larvae feed on the leaves of '' Vaccinium'', ''

Rubus ''Rubus'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, with over 1,350 species. Raspberries, blackberries, and dewberries are common, widely distributed members of the genus. Most of these ...

'' and '' Betula'' species.

References

External links

*
''Lepiforum e.V.''''Schmetterlinge-Deutschlands.de''
Hadenini Moths described in 1759 Moths of Europe Taxa named by Carl Alexander Clerck {{Hadenini-stub