White-backed Marble

Appearance

Recognizable by the white back, the white color of the base and the rear edge of the forewing and the bluish spots within the dark wing parts.

A large and distinctive Hedya species, showing large areas of white and a distinctive chestnut and grey crest on the thorax.

Naming

Hedya salicella (Linnaeus, 1758)
Phalaena salicella Linnaeus, 1758
Specific epithet from Latin salix for the host plant (willow).

Distribution

European Distribution:
Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the British Isles, the Channel Islands, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sardinia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Russia, Finland, France, Czech Republic Switzerland, Sweden, Estonia.

North American records from Ontario (1956), Massachusetts (1975), Newfoundland (1985 and 2017), and Missouri (1985).

Behavior

Flight time in Eurasia and North America is in June, July, and August and sometimes later.

Habitat

Various habitats and especially where the food plants are present. Occurring in marshy places amongst willows, banks of streams, open woodland and occasionally parks and gardens.

Reproduction

Details of wintering in Eurasia are unclear, but adult flight dates also suggest that the egg or partly grown larva is the wintering stage.

Food

Larvae feed in spun shoots and folded leaves of Salix (willow, sallow) and Populus (poplar, aspen, cottonwood) species.