Frosted Orange Noctuidae

Gortyna flavago (Denis & Schiff., 1775)

Description: Wingspan 32-44 mm.A very attractive and distinctive species. Forewings lemon-yellow with a golden orange scale-like appearance to the median area of the wing. Stigmata paler and finely outlined with a darker line. There is also a suffusion of orange at the termenal region and a patch at the apex of the forewing. Hindwing whitish ochreous with fine darker veining.

Key Identification Features:

Sets:  male upperside

Flight Period: Late August to the beginning of October.

Status: Widespread and generally common in the east, scarcer elsewhere with several records from Fermanagh and Londonderry.

Ecology: An early autumnal species found in a variety of habitats including damp woodland, marshy areas and roadside verges. Adults come to light in small numbers usually well after dark. The larvae feed from April to August on Foxglove Digitalis purpurea, thistles Carduus and Cirsium spp., Burdock Arctium minus and probably a variety of other plants.

World Distribution: Holarctic: common and widespread throughout much of western Europe from Portugal as far north as Finland.

Bradley & Fletcher number: 2364 Agassiz number: 73.121

Additional information:

UK Moths account

Caterpillar: 

 Thompson, R. S. & Nelson, B., 2003 (Oct 2). [In] The Butterflies and Moths of Northern Ireland
http://www.ulstermuseum.org.uk/lepidoptera/species.asp?item=6469

[Home]