Conistra erythrocephala


Conistra erythrocephala, the red-headed chestnut, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is distributed in central and southern Europe and is recorded from Asia Minor,.

Technical description and variation

C. erythrocephala F.. Forewing dull red-brown, suffused to a greater or less degree with grey; lines obscure, indistinctly double ; the submarginal with a darker blotch before it on costa; upper stigmata generally filled up with grey, with paler brown-edged annuli, often obscure and unicolorous : the reniform generally with black spots round its lower end; hindwing greyish fuscous; the fringe pale ochreous; in ab. glabra Hbn. the ground colour is darker, more purplish-brown, with the costal streak, the two stigmata, and a submarginal fascia pale grey; the lines are also generally paler and more evident; — ab. impunctata Spul. has the reniform stigma unmarked by black points, the other markings being often in these cases more obscure, and the ground colour striated with dark; in pallida Tutt the dark ground colour is overlaid and hidden by pale grey suffusion. Larva grey brown or yellowish-brown; dorsal and subdorsal lines fine and pale, the latter sometimes obsolete; the dorsum dotted with white; spiracles black.
The wingspan is around.

Biology

The moths fly from August/September to early May. The caterpillars live from mid-April to June.

Recorded food plants

The larvae feed on young leaves of oak and elm before descending to feed on herbaceous plants.