Bena bicolorana

• Subfamily: Chloephorinae, Chloephorini
• Wingspan: 42-47 mm
• Flight period: Jun - Jul
• Spread: Uncommon
• Host plants: Fagaceae

Information

The Bena bicolorana also called Scarce Silver-lines is a moth of the Nolidae family with a wingspan of 42-47 mm.
It is found in almost all of Europe, with the exception of Ireland, Iceland, southern and northern European Russia.
Its range extends to western Asia and Iran.
In Italy it is also present in the islands *.

The front wings of the Bena bicolorana are of an intense light green color. The costa and the outer edge are cream in color, as well as the lines that cross diagonally the wings, dividing them into three almost equal parts.
The coloring of the lower page is less intense, washed out.

The hind wings are white, translucent, slightly fringed. The palps, antennae and legs in the hairline area, they have an orange-red nuance, a nuance which, in rare cases, is also visible on the internal and external margins of the front wings.
The coloring of the thorax, abdomen and head is the same of the upper page of the front wings. The Bena bicolorana inhabits forests rich in oaks, avenues of oaks and single trees. Adults are visible in a generation from mid-June to July. ***
Bena bicolorana is common, but spread has been reduced to specific areas due to tree planting preference fast growing like spruce or maple.

It overwinters in the larva stage freely on a twig. Ripe caterpillars are found on lower leaf surfaces in May or even June.

The eggs are lenticular, white knurled with a semitransparent edge. **
The caterpillar in the juvenile stages can have an intense green or brown color, depending on the color it resembles the closed or open buds of the host plant. At the last stages it is light green in color with a darker dorsal band slightly edged in light, a whitish lateral line from which a series of clear digonal lines depart. Last narrower segments. Well visible protuberance on the dorsal part of the second segment. **

The chrysalis is light green with a dark irregular band in the dorsal area. It is found inside a greenish cocoon fixed on the twigs or leaves of the host plant. **

The larvae feed on Fagaceae, in particular quercus sp .. * Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/
*** Roland Robineau, Guide de papillons nocturne de France, Delachaux et Niestlé, 2011 p. 162