Achlya flavicornis

Achlya flavicornis, the yellow horned, is a moth of the family Drepanidae.[1] The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is found from Europe to the eastern Palearctic ecozone.

Larva

Birch woodland habitat

Achlya flavicornis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Drepanidae
Genus:	Achlya
Species:	A. flavicornis
Binomial name
Achlya flavicornis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Phalaena flavicornis Linnaeus, 1758 Phalaena cinerea Hufnagel, 1766 Phalaena (Noctua) sulphureomaculata Retzius, 1783 Noctua luteicornis Haworth, 1810 Asphalia finmarchica Schöyen, 1881 Polyploca flavicornis lapponica Rangnow, 1935 Polyploca flavicornis meridionalis Wolfsberger, 1968 Asphalia galbanus Tutt, 1891

The wingspan is 35–40 mm. The length of the forewings is 17–20 mm. The ground colour is greenish grey, sometimes speckled or dusted with darker grey. The reniform and orbicular marks are generally clear and distinct, but in some examples they are united and form a whitish blotch outlined in blackish; the cross lines are usually well defined, but in the dark grey dusted form are very obscure. The moth flies from February to April depending on the location.

The final instar larva is either off white all over or off white below the spiracles and darker greyish or olive green dorsally. There is a row of black spots and finely black-edged white dots. The insect overwinters as a pupa in a cocoon, amongst leaf litter.

The larvae feed on birch.