Actebia praecox
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Actebia
Species:
A. praecox
Binomial name
Actebia praecox
Synonyms
  • Actebia praeceps
  • Ochropleura praecox (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Phalaena praecox
  • Rhyacia praecox

Actebia praecox, the Portland moth, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is found in northern and central Europe, the Caucasus, central Asia, Siberia, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, the Kuriles, northern Turkey, Mongolia, China, Korea and Japan.

Illustration from John Curtis's British Entomology Volume 5
Moth and larva (figures 4) alongside related species in Karl Eckstein Die Schmetterlinge Deutschlands

The wingspan is 35–40 mm. "Forewing narrow and elongate, dull pale green, dusted with whitish; the three stigmata ochreous concisely black-edged; orbicular round, with a rounded rufous centre, reniform with a fine angled line swollen at each end; submarginal line preceded by a dull vinous band; apex whitish; hindwing fuscous brown. — ab. flavomaculata Graes., bluish green with the ochreous tints more yellow and the hindwings much darke-r, is confined to the Asiatic localities, but Leech states that some Irish specimens resemble it."[1] The caterpillar is light grey, or greenish coloured, has a dark lined yellowish back stripe with adjacent striking, ornamental, bright markings as well as yellow dorsolateral lines and a wide, white lateral stripe. The very slender pupa is shiny reddish brown and has a long thorn on the cremaster.

It is almost exclusively found on sandy terrain, for example in dune areas, sandy fields, shore regions and sand heaths. The larvae feed on Salix repens and other sand-dune plants.[2]

References

  1. ↑ 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
  2. ↑ "Robinson, G. S., P. R. Ackery, I. J. Kitching, G. W. Beccaloni & L. M. Hernández, 2010. HOSTS - A Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants. Natural History Museum, London".

Further reading

  • South R. (1907) The Moths of the British Isles, (First Series), Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd., London & NY: 359 pp. online Britain and Ireland.
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