Hadena caesia, also called the grey, is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It has a scattered distribution all over Europe (see subspecies section).

Hadena caesia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Superfamily:	Noctuoidea
Family:	Noctuidae
Genus:	Hadena
Species:	H. caesia
Binomial name
Hadena caesia (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775)
Synonyms
Noctua caesia Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775 Phalaena (Noctua) dichroma Esper, 1790 Dianthoecia caesia f. maritima Turati & Verity, 1911 Hadena frigida Zetterstedt, [1839]

Technical description and variation

The wingspan is 32–37 millimetres (1.3–1.5 in). Forewing blue grey, with a furry look, caused by dusky grey irroration; both folds tinged with fulvous; lines and markings often indistinct; upper stigmata pale, with yellow scales in their annuli; a dark antemedian band widened to inner margin and a less prominent dark submarginal cloud; a small dark blotch at middle of costa; hindwing dark fuscous, paler towards base; — manani Gregs. from the Isle of Man and the Irish coast, is uniformly darker slate colour; — ab. nigrescens Stgr., from the Pyrenees, Alps, and Mts. of Scandinavia is much darker, the forewing suffused with black; on the other hand [now full species Hadena clara] Stgr., from Armenia and Asia Minor, has the forewing greyer, with a pinkish tinge; the median area paler.[1]

Biology

Adults are on wing from June to August.[2]

Larva brownish ochreous, freckled with darker; a dorsal series of V-shaped marks; subdorsal line darker. The young larvae feed on capsules of various Silene species (including Silene nutans and Silene vulgaris).[3] Later, they feed on the leaves. They overwinter as a pupa.

Subspecies

• ssp. caesia (Denis&Schiffermüller, 1775) (Alps)
• ssp. abruzzensis (Draudt, 1934) (Apennine Mountains)
• ssp. ostrogovichi (Hacker, 1989) (Carpathian Mountains)
• ssp. bulgarica (Boursin, 1959) (Bulgaria)
• ssp. xanthophoba (Schawerda, 1922) (Balkan Peninsula)
• ssp. mananii (Gregson, 1866) (Great Britain and Ireland)
• ssp. frigida (Zetterstedt, 1839) (southern Fennoscandia)
• ssp. grisea (Hospital, 1948) (mountains of northern Spain)
• ssp. revolcadorensis (Calle, 1983) (the Region of Murcia)
• ssp. castiliana (Reisser, 1935) (Castile region)

References

External links

• Lepiforum e.V.
• schmetterlinge-deutschlands.de
• UKmoths
• Funet Taxonomy
• Fauna Europaea

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