Xestia baja, the dotted clay, is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in Europe, Turkey, northern Iran, Transcaucasia, the Caucasus, central Asia, Siberia, Mongolia, Tibet, China, Korea and Japan.[2]

Xestia baja
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Noctuidae
Genus:	Xestia
Species:	X. baja
Binomial name
Xestia baja Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775[1]

Technical description and variation

The wingspan is 35–40 mm. Forewing dull red brown, with slight lilac-grey tinge in places; a distinct black preapical costal bar; upper stigmata large, with slight pale rings; lower lobe of reniform dark; median shade forming a brown space between the stigmata; a black dot near base of cell; hindwing ochreous or yellowish grey. ab. bajula Stgr. is smaller than the type and suffused with grey, without any red tinge; in the northern form punctata Auriv, the lines are prominently marked by dots on the veins; purpurea Tutt, grisea Tutt and coerulescens Tutt are merely colour variations.[3]

Biology

The moth flies from July to August depending on the location.

Larva polyphagous, brown or grey, with a red tinge; the lines pale; a row of oblique dark sublateral bars; a pale bar on segment 12; head pale brown. The larvae feed on Myrica gale, Rubus species and other plants and trees.[4]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Xestia baja.

• Lepiforum
• Funet
• Fauna Europaea
• Dotted Clay on UKmoths

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