| Bordered Straw (Heliothis peltigera (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775)) |
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Scientific name: Heliothis peltigera (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775) Common name: Bordered Straw French name: Noctuelle peltigère Order: Lepidoptera Suborder: Heterocera Family: Noctuidae Subfamily: Heliothinae Wingspan: 34-42 mm. Biotope: Warm and dry open habitats with flowers. Geographic area: Southern Europe with migrations northwards, North Africa, Near East, Southern Asia, North America. Flight time: Starting from April in France. Number of generations : Several broods per year in hot regions, generally 2 in France. Caterpillar: Variable in colour with green forms, forms with pink stripes and darker forms. The body shows many tiny white dots on all development stages. There are also long white hairs. Host plant: Various low growing plants, including tobacco, tomatoes, Lucerne. Some years, important migrations northwards may causes damages to various crops. |
The fore wings of the Bordered Straw are beige to ocher-gray in colour. Moths native to warmer regions are usually lighter in colour. They show a darker area between the post-median and submarginal lines with a row of small pale dots. This area ends with a dark brown triangular patch close to the costal edge. It is followed by a pale submarginal band. The reniform patch is grey and outlined with dark brown. It touches a brown marking extending to the costal edge. There is a distinctive black dot close to the tornus. The hind wings are light-coloured with a broad blackish brown border marked with a marginal paler patch in the middle. The Bordered Straw over winters as a pupa in the soil. There is a possible confusion with other species of the Heliothis genus. The Eastern Bordered Straw (Heliothis nubigera) shows a tooth-like extension of the pale submarginal band while this band is a relatively regular width on the Bordered Straw. The Marbled Clover (Heliothis viriplaca) shows a dark median band which runs over the reniform patch. Let's also mention the Scarce Bordered Straw (Helicoverpa armigera) which does not show any black dot close to the tornus nor any dark patch touching both the reniform patch and the costal edge. |
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I have observed this Bordered Straw during a trek thru the Vercors mountains. |
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This more distant view shows that you can see the reniform patch on the underside of the fore wings, the dark submarginal band on the underside of the fore wings and the dark marginal band on the underside of the hind wings. |
André Bon September 2021