Clancy's Rustic (Platyperigea kadenii (Freyer, 1836))
Scientific name: Platyperigea kadenii (Freyer, 1836)
Common name: Clancy's Rustic
Other names: Other scientific name: Caradrina kadenii.
French name: Caradrine rouillée
Order: Lepidoptera
Suborder: Heterocera
Family: Noctuidae
Subfamily: Amphipyrinae
Wingspan: 27 to 30 mm.
Biotope: Open habitats with a preference for sandy places.
Geographic area: Mediterranean Europe and Central Europe. The range is expanding northwards (global warming?). The Clancy's Rustic has been observed in Belgium and in the southern parts of the United Kingdom for a few years (the first observation in 2002 by Sean Clancy is the origin of the English common name).
Flight time: May-June then July-October.
Number of generations : 2. Moths of the second brood are always more numerous.
Caterpillar: Greyish brown with a black head and a dorsal row of white dots.
Host plant: Many low growing plants.
The Clancy's Rustic shows greyish fore wings with a well marked totally russet brown reniform patch.
The hind wings are whitish. There is a typical black thin segmented line on the marginal border.
The Clancy's Rustic is active during the night and it is attracted to light. You can also observe it on ivy blossom at nightfall.
This is a migratory moth. This explains the northern observations.
It is difficult to tell it apart from Platyperigea proxima in the Mediterranean regions. This last one does not show any black line on the outer margin of the hind wings. The reniform patch is slightly more concave on Platyperigea kadenii, meaning that it is becoming thinner in its middle especially on the marginal side. This patch has a more regular convex shape on Platyperigea proxima.
The Pale Mottled Willow (Paradrina clavipalpis or Caradrina clavipalpis) and the Lorimer’s Rustic (Paradrina flavirena or Caradrina flavirena) are distinguished by paler and less contrasted reniform patches.

Clancy's Rustic (Platyperigea kadenii) - Yvelines, France - October 9th 2010
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Clancy's Rustic (Platyperigea kadenii)
Though the hind wing margin is not visible, the colour of the reniform patches, their concave shape and the location of the observation (in the Paris region) enable to identify the Clancy's Rustic species.


Clancy's Rustic (Platyperigea kadenii) - Yvelines, France - October 9th 2010
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Clancy's Rustic (Platyperigea kadenii)
Side view.

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