Hada plebeja, the shears, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in Europe and across the Palearctic to Asia Minor, Armenia, Turkestan, Central Asia, Mongolia, Siberia, as well as Kashmir.[1][2]

Shears
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Hada
Species:
H. plebeja
Binomial name
Hada plebeja
(Linnaeus, 1761)
Synonyms
  • Hada nana

Technical description and variation

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The wingspan is 30–35 mm. The length of the forewings is 14–17 mm. Forewing lilac-grey, suffused with olive fuscous, deepest in median area; claviform stigma small, black-edged, followed by a broad bidentate pale patch at base of vein 2; orbicular and reniform pale grey with white edges; marginal area dark; submarginal line preceded by black dentate markings: veins more or less grey-scaled; hindwing fuscous, paler basewards; the fringe pale; - leucostigma Haw. has the ground colour whiter; hilaris Zett. is a form of this in which the whitish orbicular and the pale blotch on vein 2 are confluent and form one long streak; ochrea Tutt is a form, common in Britain, in which the forewing is varied with yellow scales: - latenai, Pierr. is a melanic mountain form from Switzerland and the Hebrides.[3]

 
Figs.4, 4a, 4b, 4c larvae in various stages

Biology

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The moth flies from early June to early July.[4] Larva dark brown; dorsal and lateral lines pale; subdorsal lines formed of dark lunular blotches: spiracles black; head glossy black. The larvae feed on smooth hawksbeard, Hieracium pilosella, Taraxacum and alfalfa.[5] preferring the roots.

References

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  1. ^ Colour Atlas of Siberian Lepidoptera
  2. ^ Lepidoptera and their ecology
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Hada plebeja Funet.fi - Finland Centre for Science, retrieved on 11 October 2009
  5. ^ "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".
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