Hadena caesia

Hadena caesia, also called the grey, is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It has a scattered distribution all over Europe (see subspecies section).

Technical description and variation
The wingspan is 32 - 37 mm. Forewing blue grey, with a furry look, caused by dusky grey irroration; both folds tinged with fulvous; lines and markings often indistinct; upper stigmata pale, with yellow scales in their annuli; a dark antemedian band widened to inner margin and a less prominent dark submarginal cloud; a small dark blotch at middle of costa; hindwing dark fuscous, paler towards base; — manani Gregs. from the Isle of Man and the Irish coast, is uniformly darker slate colour; — ab. nigrescens Stgr., from the Pyrenees, Alps, and Mts. of Scandinavia is much darker, the forewing suffused with black; on the other hand [now full species Hadena clara] Stgr., from Armenia and Asia Minor, has the forewing greyer, with a pinkish tinge; the median area paler.

Biology
Adults are on wing from June to August.

Larva brownish ochreous, freckled with darker; a dorsal series of V-shaped marks; subdorsal line darker. The young larvae feed on capsules of various Silene species (including Silene nutans and Silene vulgaris). Later, they feed on the leaves. They overwinter as a pupa.

Subspecies

 * ssp. caesia (Denis&Schiffermüller, 1775) (Alps)
 * ssp. abruzzensis (Draudt, 1934) (Apennine Mountains)
 * ssp. ostrogovichi (Hacker, 1989) (Carpathian Mountains)
 * ssp. bulgarica (Boursin, 1959) (Bulgaria)
 * ssp. xanthophoba (Schawerda, 1922) (Balkan Peninsula)
 * ssp. mananii (Gregson, 1866) (Great Britain and Ireland)
 * ssp. frigida (Zetterstedt, 1839) (southern Fennoscandia)
 * ssp. grisea (Hospital, 1948) (mountains of northern Spain)
 * ssp. revolcadorensis (Calle, 1983) (the Region of Murcia)
 * ssp. castiliana (Reisser, 1935) (Castile region)