Ochropleura

Members of Ochropleura are distinguished from similar noctuid genera by forewing patterns featuring a prominent pale straw-colored to yellowish-white streak along the costal margin, often accompanied by dark longitudinal markings. O. plecta (Flame Shoulder) shows a bright straw-colored stripe with a black streak running from the base through the oval and kidney stigmata. O. leucogaster (Radford's Flame Shoulder) has slightly more elongate wings with smaller stigmata compared to O. plecta, with reddish-brown forewings and yellowish-white costal streak. Species-level identification requires examination of genitalia in many cases.

Habitat varies by species. O. plecta occupies gardens, farmland, hedgerows, moorland, woodland, and wetlands. O. leucogaster has been collected from coastal sites in southwest England; its broader habitat preferences in its native Mediterranean and North African range are not well documented.

The genus occurs across the Palearctic and Afrotropical regions. O. plecta is widespread and abundant throughout Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and Channel Islands. O. leucogaster is native to the Mediterranean, North Africa, and Middle East, with recent northward expansion into Europe and established residency on the southwest coast of UK since 2022. Records also exist from Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden) and North America (Vermont, USA), though these may represent vagrants or misidentifications.

O. plecta: adults active late April through September; two generations in southern Britain, single brooded in northern Britain (June–July). O. leucogaster: phenology not well documented in source material.

Larvae of O. leucogaster feed on various low-growing plants. Larval diet of O. plecta not specified in available sources.

O. plecta: partial bivoltine in south, univoltine in north. Specific life stages and developmental duration not detailed. Other Ochropleura species: insufficient data.

O. plecta readily attracted to light traps. O. leucogaster underwent rapid status change in UK from scarce migrant to abundant resident between 2020–2022, with large numbers now occurring on parts of the southwest coast.

O. plecta is a common and widespread species frequently encountered by naturalists and in ecological surveys. O. leucogaster has become a subject of biogeographic interest due to its recent colonization of the UK. Genome sequences have been published for both O. plecta and O. leucogaster as part of the Darwin Tree of Life and related initiatives.

• O. leucogaster vs. O. plectaO. leucogaster has slightly more elongate wings with smaller stigmata; historically confused but now distinguishable by wing shape and pattern details

• BugGuide
• Wikipedia
• GBIF taxonomy match
• iNaturalist taxon
• NCBI Taxonomy
• Catalogue of Life
• The genome sequence of Radford's Flame Shoulder, Ochropleura leucogaster (Freyer, 1831).
• The genome sequence of the Flame Shoulder, Ochropleura plecta (Linnaeus, 1761).