Schinia scutosa

Schinia scutosa, the spotted clover, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found from Europe to southern Siberia, the Near East and the Middle East and from central Asia to Japan. In North Africa it is found from Morocco to Egypt.

Illustration from John Curtis's British Entomology Volume 5

Spotted clover
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Superfamily:	Noctuoidea
Family:	Noctuidae
Genus:	Schinia
Species:	S. scutosa
Binomial name
Schinia scutosa (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775)
Synonyms
Noctua scutosa Denis & Schiffermuller, 1775 Protoschinia scutosa

Technical description and variation

For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

The wingspan is 30–36 mm. Forewing dull whitish, the marginal areas speckled olive-brown; stigmata all large and conspicuous, brown with black outlines; a brown band between the dark outer and white subterminal lines; hindwing white, the veins brown; a broad dark marginal border, with two pale spots between 2 and 4, preceded by a sinuous outer line; a large black discoidal lunule.^[1][2]

Biology

Adults are on wing from July to September. There are two generations per year in southern Europe.

Larva dark green, the sides and venter yellow; lines yellow, the subdorsal freckled with black; head yellow with black spots. The larvae feed on Artemisia species, including Artemisia vulgaris, Artemisia campestris, Artemisia scoparia, Artemisia abrotanum and Artemisia dracunculus.^[3]

Taxonomy

Schinia scutosa was placed as a synonym of North American species Schinia nuchalis, but was treated as a separate species by Hardwick in 1996. Many authors place Schinia scutosa in the genus Protoschinia.