Noctuidae

73.098 Powdered Rustic Hoplodrina superstes (Ochsenheimer, 1816)

Immigrant

Similar species: Vine's Rustic Hoplodrina ambigua has a greyer, less speckled forewing and the central area of the males antennae does not have shorter projections as in Powdered Rustic. Rustic Hoplodrina blanda and Uncertain Hoplodrina octogenaria are not finely speckled.

Forewing: 13 to 15mm

Habitats: In central and southern Europe it inhabits dry and warm, stony, nutrient-poor and sparsely vegetated grassland and also gardens.

Habits: There have been seven British mainland records, mostly a hundred years old, but two in 1945. The moth was (is?) temporarily established on Alderny, Channel Islands. It comes to light.

Foodplant: The larva feeds on dandelion, docks, bedstraws, plantains and other low growing plants. It pupates in a tough cocoon in the soil.