Double square-spot

Last updated

Double square-spot
Xestia triangulum FvL.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Xestia
Species:
X. triangulum
Binomial name
Xestia triangulum
(Hufnagel, 1766)
Synonyms

Phalaena (Noctua) rhomboideaEsper, 1790
Xestia rhomboidea(Esper, 1790)

The double square-spot (Xestia triangulum) is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is distributed through most of Europe except Portugal, the Mediterranean islands and northernmost Fennoscandia. In the East, the species ranges East across the Palearctic to Siberia and in the South-East to the Black Sea and in Iran. It rises to a height of about 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) in the Alps.

Caterpillar Rups van driehoekuil op aardappelblad (Xestia triangulum on Solanun tuberosum leave).jpg
Caterpillar

This species has pale brown forewings marked with two distinctive black marks. Despite the common name, only one of these is square, the other being roughly triangular. The hindwings are similar in colour to the forewings. It is very similar to Xestia ditrapezium .

Differences:

Technical description and variation: The wingspan is 36–46 mm (1.4–1.8 in). Forewing grey brown, with a rufous tinge: a small blotch at base, a praeapical costal spot, and the cell prominently black brown; hindwing fuscous. [1]

The moth flies at night in June and July in the British Isles. It is attracted to light and sugar and to flowers such as wood sage.

The larva is ochreous brown, black speckled ; the lines pale ; a row of oblique dark subdorsal bars. It is polyphagous, feeding on a wide variety of plants including birch, blackthorn, bramble, dock, hawthorn, raspberry and sallow. The species overwinters as a larva.

Inhabits preferably forest edges, slopes covered with shrubs, heaths and gardens and parkland.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common footman</span> Species of moth

The common footman is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Johann Leopold Theodor Friedrich Zincken in 1817. It is distributed throughout Europe and east through the Palearctic to Lake Baikal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autumnal rustic</span> Species of moth

The autumnal rustic is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper in 1788. It was previously placed in the genus Paradiarsia. It is found in northern and western Europe and North Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Setaceous Hebrew character</span> Species of moth

The setaceous Hebrew character is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is found in the Palearctic realm. It is a common species throughout Europe and North Asia and Central Asia, South Asia, China, Japan and Korea. It is also found in North America, from coast to coast across Canada and the northern United States to western Alaska. It occurs in the Rocky Mountains from Montana to southern Arizona and New Mexico. In the east, it ranges from Maine to North Carolina. It has recently been recorded in Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Six-striped rustic</span> Species of moth

The six-striped rustic is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is distributed throughout Europe apart from the far south east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Square-spot rustic</span> Species of moth

The square-spot rustic is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in Europe, North Africa and east across the Palearctic and in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dot moth</span> Species of moth

The dot moth is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1761. It is a very distinctive species with very dark brown, almost black, forewings marked with a large white stigma from which the species gets its common name. The hindwings are grey with a dark band at the termen. The wingspan is 38–50 mm. It flies at night in July and August and is attracted to light, sugar and flowers.

<i>Mythimna ferrago</i> Species of moth

Mythimna ferrago, the clay, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1787. It is distributed throughout Europe and is also found in Morocco, Algeria, Turkey, Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria, Turkestan, Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Central Asia and the western parts of temperate North Asia. Also Tibet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoulder-striped wainscot</span> Species of moth

The shoulder-striped wainscot is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1761. Some authors place it in the genus Mythimna. It is found throughout Europe and in Russia to the west of the Urals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minor shoulder-knot</span> Species of moth

The minor shoulder-knot is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1776. It is distributed throughout Europe then east across the Palearctic to Siberia and Japan. It also occurs in Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey chi</span> Species of moth

The grey chi is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is distributed throughout Europe, although it is not present in southern Spain and Greece, as well as northern Fennoscandia. It is also found across the Palearctic including Central Asia, to the Russian Far East but not in Japan.

<i>Agrochola circellaris</i> Species of moth

Agrochola circellaris, or The Brick, is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is distributed throughout most of Europe, Asia Minor and Armenia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lunar underwing</span> Species of moth

The lunar underwing is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Adrian Hardy Haworth in 1809. It has a scattered distribution in western Europe including Spain, Scandinavia and Algeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Straw underwing</span> Species of moth

The straw underwing is a species of moth in the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is found from North Africa west through South Europe and Central Europe. In the north it is in parts of Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Estonia. Further east the range stretches from southern Russia and Asia minor to the Caucasus.

<i>Apamea monoglypha</i> Species of moth

Apamea monoglypha, the dark arches, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is a common, sometimes abundant, European species. It is found in most of Europe except northernmost Fennoscandia and the southern parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Greece. The species is also found in Anatolia, Turkestan, Western Asia and Central Asia, Siberia and Mongolia. In the Alps it is found up to heights of 2,500 meters. The smaller subspecies sardoa is found on Sardinia and Corsica.

<i>Apamea remissa</i> Species of moth

Apamea remissa, the dusky brocade, is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It is distributed throughout Europe and Turkey, ranging across the Palearctic realm to Siberia, Manchuria and Japan. It has also been reported from Alaska.

<i>Apamea sordens</i> Species of moth

Apamea sordens, the rustic shoulder-knot or bordered apamea, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is distributed throughout Europe, east across the Palearctic to Central Asia and to China and Japan. It also occurs in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marbled minor</span> Species of moth

The marbled minor is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is distributed throughout Europe, east through the Palearctic to central Asia and the Altai Mountains. It rises to heights of over 1500 meters in the Alps.

<i>Xestia alpicola</i> Species of moth

Xestia alpicola, the northern dart, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found from northern Europe across the Palearctic to central Siberia and in the Alps.

<i>Xestia ditrapezium</i> Species of moth

Xestia ditrapezium is a moth of the family Noctuidae found in most of Europe, northern Turkey, northern Iran, Transcaucasia, Caucasus, central Asia, from the Altai to Ussuri, Amur, Kuril Islands, northern Mongolia, Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan.

<i>Xestia agathina</i> Species of moth

Xestia agathina, the heath rustic, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in western and central Europe and Morocco.

References

  1. Seitz, A. Ed., 1914 Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde, Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart Band 3: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen eulenartigen Nachtfalter, 1914