Xestia baja
{{Short description|Species of moth}}
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| image = Xestia_baja.jpg
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| taxon = Xestia baja
| authority = Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775{{cite web|url=http://eol.org/pages/466310/hierarchy_entries/52374983/overview|title=Xestia baja|author= Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: April 2013 |publisher=Encyclopedia of Life|date=April 2013|access-date=2013-06-28}}
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}}
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.{{cite web|url=http://www.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/noctuoidea/noctuidae/noctuinae/xestia/index.html|title=Xestia genus|author=Markku Savela|publisher=funet.fi|date=November 3, 2008|access-date=2009-03-05}}
Technical description and variation
{{Entomology glossary hatnote}}
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.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
Michael Fibiger: Noctuidae Europaeae, Volume 2 Noctuinae II. Entomological Press, Sorø, 1993, ISBN 87-89430-02-6 Walter Forster, Theodor A. Wohlfahrt: Die Schmetterlinge Mitteleuropas. Band 4: Eulen. (Noctuidae). Franckh’sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1971, ISBN 3-440-03752-5.
[[Image:Buckler W The larvæ of the British butterflies and moths PlateLXXVIII.jpg|thumb|140px|left|Figs 3, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e, 3f, 3g larvae in various stages
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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.{{cite web|url= http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/hostplants/ |title= 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.}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- [http://www.lepiforum.de/cgi-bin/lepiwiki.pl?Xestia_Baja Lepiforum]
- [http://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/noctuoidea/noctuidae/noctuinae/xestia/ Funet]
- [https://fauna-eu.org/ Fauna Europaea]
- [https://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=2130 Dotted Clay on UKmoths]
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Category:Moths described in 1775
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